


A Few Scattered Remnants

by greeneggs101



Series: Shattered/Scattered [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-01-01 03:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18327485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeneggs101/pseuds/greeneggs101
Summary: The side stories, deleted scenes, and epilogues that didn't quite make it into the original fic for a variety of reasons.





	1. A Connection is a Connection (no matter how small)

**Author's Note:**

> As said in the summary, these are all gonna be a collection of side stories or epilogues that didn't make the final cut of Scattered/Shattered. A few more versions of scattered Sora, a few side stories focusing on different characters, and maybe an epilogue or two. (And a 'secret ending')

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few scattered Soras may have run into a villain or two... But he still has a connection with them, no matter how frail and thin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The hardest part of this was finding Disney villains that Sora a) met and b) are still kind of alive at the end of KH3. Hades was my favorite to write though.

_\--- Pete & Maleficent, Maleficent’s Castle ---_

 

Pete was worried. And confused. 

 

...mostly confused. 

 

“Hi!” the child in front of him waved. 

 

Absently, Pete waved back. 

 

The kid giggled and began to suck his thumb in a way that made Pete think of his son, PJ. His boy had still been sucking on his own thumb when Pete left. He wondered if he ever grew out of that habit. It  _ had _ been seven years...

 

“Where’s Mommy?” The child asked. 

 

“Um...” That was the other thing that confused Pete. Where had the kid come from? He was fairly certain the kid wasn’t Maleficent’s...unless...

 

Nope! Nope, not gonna even remotely think of that.

 

“Hahaha, you made a funny face!” the kid laughed.

 

That was the other thing that confused Pete. The kid wasn’t scared of the castle, which spooked even Pete every once in a while, with its green tinted light causing shadows to darken every corner. In fact, with the kid’s brown hair and blue eyes, he almost looked like--

 

No way! The keyblade brat wasn’t old enough to have kids...Right?!

 

The kid seemed to have lost interest in Pete and his thumb and was now fiddling with his pants, pulling absently on a string, then looking up at Pete again. “Where’s Mommy?” he asked again. 

 

“Uh... your Mommy’s...um...” Pete let out a sigh, “Well... I’m not sure.”

 

“Okay,” The kid blinked in thought. “Where’s Riku?”

 

That caused Pete’s train of thought (already on a confusing loop-de-loop) to completely derail. The kid said Riku, which was the keyblade brat’s friend. So...

 

“I need to tell Maleficent about this.” 

 

“Tell me what?” 

 

Pete flinched, and turned around. “Oh um, well, uh. You see--”

 

“Hi! I’m Sora!” 

 

Maleficent raised an eyebrow, motioning for Pete to get out of the way, which he did willingly. She then stepped over to the small boy. “Are you now?”

 

The kid frowned, “Yes?” 

 

“Hmph,” Maleficent scoffed and poked at the boy with her staff, causing him to giggle. “I see...” 

 

“Uh... what happened to uh, shrinkify him?”

 

“Fool,” Maleficent spat, “This is no shrinking spell. Though I can see how one as simple as you may not have picked up on it.” She turned away from both of them. “The boy’s heart has been scattered, and this is just one piece of the puzzle.”

 

“Oh..” Pete frowned. A scattered heart? That sounded painful. “Um, so the keyblade brat isn’t... a whole person then? Wouldn’t this be the best time to attack?”

 

“They now have an army of keyblade brats,” Maleficent tapped her staff on the stone floor. “Distracted as they may be, they would rally if we were to threaten their doorstep. Besides, we do not yet have the box we require to ensure our victory.” 

 

“Oh, right.” He then turned to the, who seemed to find the stone floor very interesting. “What should I do with him?”

 

“What do I care?” Maleficent began to stride away, pausing once to glare at the kid. “Either he’ll put himself back together or not.” She turned, her nose in the air as she went back to...whatever she had been doing. 

 

Pete learned not to ask questions about that.

 

The miniaturized keyblade brat wasn’t even phased by her glare. Instead, he toddled over to her cape, his legs barely supporting his own weight, and then he fell heavily onto it. Pete flinched, sure that Maleficent would push the boy off, or even launch a fireball for his transgression. 

 

Instead, she paused for barely a moment, looking down at the boy with a raised eyebrow before walking away again. The boy held on tightly, a giggle bursting out as he was dragged along. 

 

“Wheeeee!”

 

Pete blinked, confused again. 

 

What was going on around here?!

 

Cautiously, he followed Maleficent and the Miniature Keyblade Kid down the hall, and into a room that reminded Pete of a study. There, the dark fairy used magic to lift the kid off her robes and up on a stool. 

 

“Have you seen Riku?” Sora asked, still surprisingly unfearful the face of what Pete presumed had to have been Maleficent’s most evil glare. 

 

“Not recently,” Maleficent answered.

 

“Oh, okay. He’ll be back soon.”

 

“I’m sure.” 

 

A light glowed from her staff and Pete thought for sure this was it. The kid was gonna go poof or something! Brainwashed maybe? Convinced to join Maleficent’s side? (which was fine with Pete, someone else could mop the floors around here.) 

 

Instead three bright green lights shot out of the staff and hovered around the boy. The keyblade brat giggled in joy and waved his hands, laughing when the lights dodged his grasp, but remained within reach. Frowning, Sora reached out again, then giggled when the lights again flickered out of his pudgy hand. 

 

Maleficient (and Pete) watched the interaction for a moment before the dark fairy turned back towards the book she must have been reading before coming to check on Pete. She didn’t seem to mind the boy’s laughter too much and Pete almost  _ (almost) _ thought he saw a smirk. 

 

No. Way.

 

This was too strange. Even for him. 

 

He tried to sneak away, but tripped over a bucket on his way out. 

 

“If there are any further noisy interruptions from you, you will be spending the rest of the day locked in the dungeon!”

 

“Yes, Ma’am!” Pete grumbled. Sora let out another shriek of laughter and Pete grumbled some more. The brat didn’t get threatened with a dungeon. 

 

Watching his feet a little more carefully, Pete made his way back to his room. He checked around the hallway just to make sure Maleficent hadn’t followed him, and then dodged under his bed where he pulled out the device called a gummiphone. It had just appeared one day with a note from the mousy king:  _ For Emergencies. _

 

Pete was pretty sure this counted as an emergency. 

 

Luckily, the note included very clear and illustrated instructions too, and soon Pete had a message off to whatever number was plugged into it. 

 

_ Are you guys missing something? Short, spiky hair, carries around a keyblade?  _

 

Surprisingly, the response was fast. 

 

The phone began to buzz and a strange noise began to emit from it. Panicked, Pete pressed every button he could to make it stop. Finally, one button pulled up an image of the two annoying chipmunks.

 

“Pete?!” 

 

Did the picture speak?

 

“Um...yes?”

 

“How’d you get this number?” the less intelligent one asked. 

 

“What do ya mean, how?” Pete huffed, “It was the only teley -phone number in here!”

 

“Oh...” the other one tapped his foot. “His Majesty did say that he wanted one extra phone made. But he didn’t say for who.” He glared at Pete. “What did you mean, missing something?”

 

“Where is his mousiness?” Pete asked instead. 

 

“He’s on an important mission,” the dumb one stated, only to be pushed out of the screen a moment later. 

 

“We’ll decided if your message is important enough to go through.”

 

“Fine, be that way! I just wanted to tell you that the keyblade brat is here, but he’s been miniaturized.”

 

“Uh, that does sound important Chip!”

 

“Right!” Now there was urgency in the rodent’s voice. “We better tell King Mickey right away.” He then turned back to Pete. “You just wait there for a moment. Don’t touch anything on the phone!”

 

Pete frowned, almost wanting to touch every button again just because he was told not to, but then Mickey’s face filled up half the screen. 

 

“Pete?!”

 

“Why is everyone so surprised to see me?!” Pete grumbled, “You’re the ones who gave me the phone to begin with.”

 

“Gosh. I guess I didn’t expect you’d actually use it.” The mouse looked thoughtful. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Well, ya see, it was just like I was telling your rodents there.” Pete ignored the twinned protest at the word, “The keyblade brat is here, but he’s been shrinkified.”

 

“Oh dear,” now the mouse looked worried. “Is he okay?”

 

“He was when I last saw him, but I think he must have put a spell on Maleficent or something. She didn’t blast him or nothin’!” 

 

“A toddler Sora put a spell on Maleficent?” One of the rodents laughed, “Maybe we should just keep him there for a  few days.”

 

Pete didn’t like the sound of that. Luckily, Mickey didn’t either. 

 

“I see. Well... if you could do us a favor, Pete? Keep him out of trouble for maybe an hour. Where are you?”

 

“Like I’m gonna tell you that!” Pete grumbled. 

 

“He’s at Maleficent's tower in the enchanted forest!” one rodent yelled. 

 

Pete raised an eyebrow. “Hey how’d you--”   
  


“Okay. Pete. You do this, and I’ll consider letting you return to Disney Castle for a supervised visit with your son. He’s been asking for you.” The mouse actually looked sincere. 

 

Pete blinked, then stubbornly refused to let the tears that gathered at the statement to fall. “He has? I mean, of course he has!”

 

“So you’ll keep him out of trouble?” Mickey asked, “An hour at most. Someone will be by. We’d rather avoid a direct confrontation for now though. We just want Sora.”

 

“And I’d rather he be out of my hair,” Pete agreed. He could come up with some sort of diversion later. Maybe bowl one of Maleficent’s pig servants into the racks of potions downstairs. That always got her running. 

 

Mickey nodded, then seemingly stopped the call, for his face disappeared. Chip and Dale did the same. 

 

Pete let out a sigh, Soon this weirdness would end. Then the phone dinged again, just once. 

 

Frowning, Pete picked it up. 

 

There was no name, just a phone number and a message:

 

_ If he’s hurt, there will be no place you can hide.   _

 

Pete felt a shiver of fear run up his spine at the words. They were just a simple written threat, but there seemed to be a sort of power behind them. 

 

He felt his mouth go dry. There was someone else in this universe just as scary as Maleficent. 

 

An hour later the plan went off without a hitch. Pete managed to place the blame of Maleficent’s broken potion bottles on one of the pig like minions, who was quickly reduced to bacon. 

 

Pete tried not to feel sorry about that. 

 

By the time they returned to the dark fairy’s study, Sora was gone. 

 

Pete wondered if the woman would rage, but she merely raised an eyebrow. 

 

“Pity they took him before I could fully corrupt the darkness inside him.” Then she returned to her book, as if their afternoon had not been interrupted at all. “Don’t you have work to do?!”

 

“Umm... yes, ma’am.” Pete quickly returned to the corridor he had been sweeping when the kid had turned up and tried to put the incident out of his mind 

 

He never forgot the threat from the mystery number though. That haunted him for a while. 

  
  


_\--Hades, The Underworld ---_

  
  


Hades frowned at the number above the door. 

 

It was going down. Which was wrong. 

 

The number of souls in the underworld should never be going down. Except maybe in the case of a zombie apocalypse, and Hades was pretty sure he hadn’t had one of those scheduled for at least a millennia.  

 

Hercules was to blame for this. Hades wasn’t sure how, but he just knew this was Jerkules’s fault!

 

The count fell by another ten and Hades grumbled under his breath. “If you want something done...” 

 

There was a leak in the system somewhere, and Hades supposed it was his job to find it. 

 

(It  actually _was_ his job. This was his realm. He may hate his job but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t good at it.) 

 

He checked all of the security features on the path that led to the underworld as well as any special pathways that may have been created throughout the eons. Orpheus’s tunnel was blocked in, the hole that Herc the jerk blasted into the wall was finally bricked over. Everything was working just as it should. 

 

“Higher doggie!” 

 

_ Eh...what?! _

 

An excited yip followed the kid’s voice, one that Hades just barely recognized as Cerberus’s. Which, given that he hadn’t heard the sound since Cerberus was a puppy many, many,  _ many _ eons ago, he was surprised to have recognized  _ at all _ . 

 

He marched into Cerberus’s lair at the banks of the River Styx, and then stopped so suddenly at the sight in front of him, his hair got whiplash. “What?”

 

His dog was tossing something into the air, one of his three heads yipping quietly when the thing fell, and another head would catch it gently in it’s massive jaws before tossing it again. It wasn’t until the thing giggled that Hades realized that it was a child. 

 

A spiky-haired, tiny, minuscule,  _ very not dead _ child. 

 

There was a mass of souls hovering by Cerberus’s rear legs. When one of the heads launched the child into the air again, the two other heads watched the small bundle laugh, which allowed a few more souls to escape back to the River Styx. Some of them were even brave enough to try and swim across the river, and dissolved instantly on contact. Most just hovered at the shore, but given that they were no longer technically in the underworld, it was causing Hades’s soul count to go down. 

 

And causing a massive traffic situation on the receiving dock. 

 

“Oi...” Hades groaned out. Well... first things first. 

 

“Hey, excuse me!” He called out to Cerberus, “What’s the point of having a guard dog, if you don’t, you know,  _ guard anything _ !” He may have lost his temper on the last part, his flames growing hot orange and exploding outwards. 

 

None of the heads listened, keeping an eye on the laughing bundle now making its descent. The middle head caught the child in a gentle grip, holding mostly by a slightly torn and now dog slobber covered shirt. 

 

“I’m talking over here!” Hades shouted again, the flames growing. 

 

The child whimpered. 

 

Hades suddenly had all three heads’ attention, though not for the reason he intended. The one to the left growled while the one to the right licked the child till it was laughing again. 

 

Hades sighed, reigning in his temper. He would have to try a new tactic. “Cerberus. Drop it!” 

 

Another growl. 

 

“Drop it!” Hades conjured a cyclops bone, Cerberus’s favorite. “C’mon, I got your favorite treat! Drop it.”

 

Cerberus wagged his tail a bit, looking torn between the bone and his new toy. Then the middle head lowered his head to deposit the child to the ground gently, and wagged its tail for the treat.

 

“Not so fast, big guy!” Hades called up then pointed to the souls on the shoreline. “You gotta finish your job, then you can have your treat.”

 

Cerberus let out a very canine huff, and then bounded over to the river sticks, standing just on the edge of it’s banks before letting out a very menacing growl. 

 

The souls scurried back the way they came, and the souls that Charon had just been ferrying nearly leapt into the river itself to follow. 

 

Charon waved his bony hand. “Thanks, boss! Now... about that raise?” 

 

“Not. Happening!” Hades shouted back, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Honestly, Charon had the  _ worst _ timing.

 

“Hi!” 

 

Hades blinked, turning to look at the child who waved, his grin bright even through the dog slobber. Closer, Hades realized that the child was a small boy. Maybe six or seven? Human ages confused him. Why couldn’t they all just pop out of their parents as fully formed adults like Athena did? No pain, no hassle, just a fully formed functional human. 

 

Oh well, what did he know?

 

“I’m Sora!” the kid continued, completely unbothered that he was talking to a god. 

 

Hades blinked at the name though. Sora... why does that name sound familiar...wait-- He glared back at the kid. No way. The Keyblade Brat was definitely taller. Or maybe older. 

 

“So kid? Any particular reason you became my dog’s new favorite game of fetch.”

 

“Oh, is that your dog?” The kid tilted his head, “He’s a really good dog. You should play with him more. He was kinda lonely and sad and had to growl all the time.” 

 

“Well, that is his job.” Hades stated, then pointed to the river where Cerberus was herding the last few stubborn souls back to the underworld. “See, if he doesn’t do his job, then we get a back up like this. Traffic for days! The security checkpoint waiting times are gonna be ginormous. Have to make sure that the right souls go back to the right places.” Hades groaned, “You have no idea the headache you just because.” He had been planning on cleaning the palace this week in preparation for Persephone’s return. 

 

And now...

 

“Oh... I’m sorry...” and the kid really did look sympathetic. “Can’t you get help though? When I have a big job to do, Riku comes and helps me because he’s my friend. Don’t you have any friends mister?”

 

Definitely the keyblade brat. Though who knows how he got so much smaller. 

 

“Not many want to be friends with the king of the underworld,” Hades muttered. 

 

“What? Why?” Sora protested. “But you have a cool dog! He’s the best dog.” 

 

Ugh. Children’s logic. “Look, Kid. I think we got off the subject a bit. I believe that a better question right now would be: How did you get down here? Sneak aboard Charon’s boat? Find a secret way in? I swear if this is Hercules’s doing I’ll--”

 

“I dunno,” Sora shrugged. “Woke up by the river. Then I saw the dog.” The rest was clearly explainable by the ever growing line to get back into the underworld. 

 

Hades was about to ask what the kid was doing before he woke up by the river, but then the kid started to glow brighter than any soul in the underworld. 

 

Sora looked down at his hands. “Woah, cool!” Then he was gone. 

 

Leaving Hades with the headache he had caused. 

 

Hades let out a sigh. Of course, as usual. 

 

_\---Xigbar, the World that Never Was---_

 

Xigbar stared at the pre-teen that popped into existence on the table. 

 

The pre-teen stared back. 

 

“Luxu. Explain”

 

Uh oh. Ira sounded ‘angry’ again. 

 

“Oh come on, Ira. I know it’s been a while, but sure you remember what a kiddo looks like? Generally shorter than you, kinda babyish, too much arms and legs and not enough brains?”

 

“I’m not babyish!” the preteen protested. “And my name’s Sora!” 

 

“Oh, and attitude. Can’t forget about that.” Xigbar turned his smirk to Gula, “If I recall correctly, you had plenty of that, huh, little Leopard?” 

 

Gula gritted his teeth, but surprisingly kept his cool. Xigbar frowned. Maybe he had stayed away for too long if he can’t even get a rise out of the youngest anymore. 

 

Oh well, that was in the past. 

 

“Where am I?” Sora frowned, sitting up on the table, and crossing his legs. “Where’s Riku?” He turned to glare at Xigbar. 

 

The man frowned, “I don’t know how that look was able to transcend space and time itself, but you still glare at me like I just drowned your goldfish.”

 

Sora blinked, the glare softening. “Well, that wouldn’t be very nice.” 

 

“Yeah, yeah...” Xigbar held out a hand, “Sleep!”

 

The kid barely got out a “huh?” before collapsing back onto the table. 

 

Invi gasped. “Luxu, that was hardly--”

 

“Trust me, if you knew what damage even a few misplaced memories could do, you would have done the same. The less the kiddo knows, the better.” Xigbar dragged the boy off the table and situated him in one of the many empty chairs. 

 

Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to bring them all to the world that never was, but he couldn’t think of another spot that would both have a table and be empty. 

 

“But who is he?” Aced wondered. 

 

“Ah, well...” Xigbar frowned, “That kind of goes with the long story. I suppose the bigger question is, what’s he doing all scattered apart like this...” He trailed off, then came to a decision. “Well, I guess now’s as good a time as ever for an intermission in my little story. You guys chill. I’ll be right back.” 

 

He swung the brunet over his shoulder and left the room. As he turned the corner he could just make out Gula’s voice:

 

“You know, with the way he tells stories, this is gonna take  _ years _ .”

 

Xigbar frowned at that. He tells the best stories, and the best stories take time to build up. 

 

Once he was far enough away that he was sure they wouldn’t follow, he summoned a dark corridor, but stopped just short of stepping through. Sora didn’t have a black cloak to protect himself from the darkness. He couldn't very well drago someone with barely a fraction of a heart through the realm of darkness and not expect some horrible half formed monster to come out of it. 

 

He groaned. “You’re gonna make me do this the old fashioned way, huh?” 

 

Summoning his keyblade, Xigbar fumbled with remember the proper technique for a moment. It had been so long since he had even been able to do this..

 

But after a moment, a portal formed and Xigbar stepped through. 

 

Luckily, or maybe not so, there was no one waiting for him when he exited. 

 

They hadn’t changed the computer room much, though Xigbar noticed through the windows that the heartless machine had been completely obliterated. Several blast holes and long deep gouges had rendled the machinery useless. 

 

Fair enough, there were plenty of natural heartless in the world to deal with. 

 

He cautiously approached the computer. There was a image of the boy currently still napping over his shoulder on it. Xigbar frowned, looking over the images and readings. 

 

“So... they’re reforming you here, huh? I guess that makes things a bit easier.” 

 

They were recompleting him like he was some kind of puzzle. This Xigbar had to see in person. Xigbar began to look around, then figured they might have brought the boy to one of the former “examination rooms.” After messing with the computer for a moment, he managed to open the doorway down to the examination chamber (why Ansem hadn’t changed the password yet, he’ll never know). 

 

The rooms were all unlocked and empty, save for one with a light on. As Xigbar approached he could just hear the beginning chords of a melody. He groaned, opening the door. ‘They didn’t really let you stay here, right?”

 

Demyx nearly lept out of the chair, startled. “Woah, Xigbar! Give a man a heart attack why don’t you?!”

 

Xigbar scoffed. “As if. Don’t think that disguise fools me. You’re still a nobody. You can’t have a heart attack.”

 

The younger blonde blinked. “Um, excuse me, but as was discovered earlier, we all  _ did _ have hearts... But, yeah... I didn’t really feel like dying again just to become a whole person. And I have no idea where I’ll end up. I like it here. Vexen-er Even only yells at me every other day and Ienzo keeps sharing his favorite ice cream with me.” He grinned and settled back into his chair, picking up his annoying sitar again. “Why would I want to leave?”

 

Xigbar groaned and threw his “package” onto the bed that held what had to be the prime version. There was a bit of a glow for a moment as the two Sora’s merged. “So, the whole circus is joining in on this scavenger hunt?”

 

Demyx smirked and leaned back in his chair. “Hey, I figured you’d need him awake for this seque. They just needed a bit of a push.”

 

Xigbar frowned. There was something odd in Demyx’s tone. “Oh, so now you’re playing the mastermind behind all this? As if!” Demyx wasn’t smart enough to mastermind anything. Hence why he nudged Vexen to using Demyx as his delivery boy. Dumb and weird enough to fly under everyone’s radar. 

 

But maybe Demyx wanted it to be that way--

 

Demyx then grinned and riffed on his guitar and Xigbar shook his head. 

 

Nope, Demyx was definitely just a cowardly weirdo, who occasionally had a good idea. Xigbar huffed. “Whatever, I’ve got my own plans. I just need these guys to stay out of my way for a little bit longer.”

 

“I’m sure they’ll all want a vacation when this guy wakes up,” Demyx admitted. “Of course... I won’t keep this little visit and talk a secret forever...”

 

Xigbar glared at the blonde. “Tell anyone, and you’re gonna find yourself completed whether you like it or not.” 

 

Demyx gulped and nodded. “You got it, boss!” 

 

Xigbar rolled his eyes and summoned a dark corridor, a much faster and easier way to travel. 

 

He could give the keyblade brats a little time off, a intermission of sorts. 

 

Besides, he still had to finish his story. 

 

_\---Xehanort & Eraqus, ??? --- _

 

“How is this a game if you only have one piece?” Xehanort frowned looking at the uneven board. “It doesn’t make sense.” 

 

Eraqus grinned with that stupid look on his face. The one that Xehanort was learning not to trust as it tended to hide his friend’s sly nature. “You’ll see...”

 

“It’s not much of  a game if you don’t tell me the rules,” Xehanort huffed but obligingly made a move. When Eraqus didn’t say it was a wrong move, he let out a sigh. 

 

Eraqus began to make his own move when they were interrupted by a knock at the door. “Huh?”

 

Their master entered and they both hurred to stand, knocking the game board over in their haste. “Master!” They bowed deeply. 

 

Their master nodded in acknowledgement and waved for them to relax. “Sorry to interrupt your day off, but you both have a guest that requested to see you. A visitor that traveled a rather long way to get here.” He opened the door further, admitting a man even older than their master, wearing robes of dark burgundy, his hair a mixture of brown and grey. Around his neck, he wore a chain with a crown symbol similar to Eraqus’s favorite game piece. 

 

Xehanort frowned. He could recognize an islander when he saw one. The spiky hair threw him off though. There was only one islander that had hair like that, but Taichi wasn’t nearly this old, just a few years older than Xehanort himself. 

 

The older man walked into the room, only a little wobbly on his feat. Eraqus hurried over to help him. “Would you like to sit down?”

 

“Oh, if you wouldn’t mind. I haven’t quite gotten used to being old yet.” The man laughed, his voice still clear and his eyes still a bright sky blue despite his age. 

 

Eraqus let out a laugh as well, settling the man in one of the nearby armchairs. “Master said you wanted to see us though? Why?”

 

“I’ve heard stories.” The man grinned, which seemed to disarm Eraqus, the boy still too trusting despite Xehanort’s efforts to teach him better. “My name is So--er Sky.” 

 

Xehanort frowned at the hiccup in the man’s name, but then Sky began to cough, loud and harsh, and Eraqus quickly hurried towards the door. “I’ll get you some water.” He nodded at the Master, who followed the younger boy out the door. Xehanort was left alone with the mysterious stranger, who was still coughing, though it looked less and less convincing. 

 

The silver haired boy frowned, settling into the other chair. “You can drop the act.”

 

The man’s face reddened but he did stop coughing nearly immediately. “That obvious?”

 

“No, I just had a haunch.” He glared at the older man who seemed completely oblivious to it. “Who are you? I can tell an islander when I see one.”

 

“Hmm... Are we all that obvious?”

 

Xehanort rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and leaning back in the chair. “You are. What gives? I can also tell you’re a keyblade master, but according to the Master, I was the only one chosen form the Destiny Islands.” 

 

“Well... To be fair, we didn’t know you were from the islands until much later.” Master Sky offered another grin and despite himself, Xehanort found that he was starting to smile back. 

 

There was something just... disarming about the older man. 

 

“What does that even mean?” Xehanort wondered. 

 

“Ah well--” The man looked ready to reach for some lie or another, but Eraqus’s return cut him off.

 

The boy had carried in a tray sandwiches as well. “The Master said we missed lunch. And we were about to start another game without having anything!”

 

Xehanort huffed, “You weren’t thinking with your stomach when you were winning.” 

 

“But I’m hungry now...” Eraqus groaned, digging into his sandwich. 

 

Letting out a somewhat fond sigh, Xehanort picked up his own sandwich, taking much smaller bites. 

 

“So...” Eraqus held a hand in front of his mouth hiding his food, but doing little to negate the fact that he was eating and talking at the same time. “The Master said that you are a Keyblade Master too.” He finally swallowed, “Did you learn under Master’s Master?”

 

The older man gave another one of those grins that Xehanort wished he could find annoying. “Not exactly. I was more self taught.”

 

Xehanort nearly dropped his water glass in shock. “S-Self taught? But that should be impossible. Right?” He turned to Eraqus for confirmation, but, to his frustration, his friend looked merely thoughtful. 

 

“I think there is something in the old texts that keyblades would occasionally find their own owners. If necessary. It’s pretty rare though.” Eraqus frowned, “I thought it was more theoretical than proven fact.”

 

Xehanort held back a sigh. More blue blood teachings that he had yet to learn. It was at times like this that the silver haired boy felt that he would forever be subpar to his friend. 

 

There was a flash of light and the man held out what had to have been his keyblade. “It doesn’t feel very theoretical,” Sky teased, managing to twirl the keyblade a few times, indicating further that he wasn’t nearly as decrepit as he made himself seem. 

 

The movement brought Xehanort’s attention to the blade itself. It was the closest representation of an actual key that Xehanort had seen, with a gold guard, and silver key shaped blade. But there was something else familiar about it too. 

 

With a start, Xehanort realized that the old man’s keyblade was an exact replica of the elaborate guards on the few drawings that survived of the [chi]-blade. 

 

Who was this Master Sky? And how would he have acquired such a key?

 

Xehanort turned to see if his friend noticed it as well, but Eraqus either wasn’t as observant, or didn’t care, and was instead fawning over the blade’s owner. 

 

“Wow! And it just came to you one day?”

 

The older man laughed, “Eh, sorta. It’s rather complicated.” He let the key disperse. “But I didn’t have a master to train me when I first received it. You two are lucky to have such a caring teacher.”

 

“Yes,” Eraqus agreed, “The master is teaching both of us everything he knows!” 

 

Sky smiled, then his hair was ruffled by the breeze by the open window, and he turned to look out it. “It’s so nice here,” he noted. “I wish I had time to see the city.”

 

“I’m sure you’ll get time some day,” Eraqus grinned. “Want to sit over by the window?”

 

“Oh, please!” 

 

Eraqus helped the older man up, assisting him towards the window. Xehanort followed behind with the rest of the sandwiches and water, making a note that getting old seemed to be a terrible affliction. 

 

The man’s cane knocked into something as they walked towards the window, and Sky knelt down, picking up one of the pieces that had been knocked over earlier. “Oh, you said you were starting a new game. I hope I didn’t interrupt.”

 

“We weren’t that far into it,” Eraqus reassured him. “We’ll just start over on our next day off.”

 

_ Whenever that is _ , Xehanort thought, but he knelt down as well to help Eraqus pick the pieces up. 

 

“Do you play, Master Sky?”

 

“Oh, no. I’m not clever enough for games like that. I just cheer my husband on when he gets drawn into one.” Sky held the piece up to the light, fingering the crown on top fondly. “What game did you just finish up?”

 

“The prophecy one.” Eraqus explained, picking up the other pieces and packing the game away. “The one with thirteen dark pieces and seven white. Have you ever heard of...” He trailed off when he glanced back up at Sky, his expression shifting between confusion and sympathy. 

 

Xehanort frowned, looking up at as well, noticing that Sky’s grip on the game piece had tightened. 

 

The old man had tears leaking from his eyes, though he hurriedly tried to hide them when he saw the boys looking. “Yes, I’ve actually played that game once, I think.” He let out a weak chuckle, then grinned at both of them, passing the piece to Eraqus. “Out of curiosity, who won?”

 

“I did!” Eraqus tried to grin back, but Xehanort could tell his heart wasn’t in it. 

 

“Only because you cheated,” the silver haired boy pointed out, and was glad to see the sadness fade from both his friend and the old man as Eraqus pouted at him. 

 

“No, I didn’t!”

 

“You don’t just get to start over with some kind of random ‘the light from the past’ rule that you didn’t even tell me about when we started playing.” Xehanort crossed his arms. 

 

“It’s a game of strategy. I don’t have to tell you all the rules!” Eraqus’s voice rose, as it always did when he knew Xehanort had a good argument. They glared at each other for a moment before a watery laugh broke through their staring contest. 

 

They turned to stare at the old man. He seemed to almost be glowing a bit, though that could have been a trick of the light. 

 

“I forget. You would have been young once, too.” 

 

Xehanort frowned. The words may have been said to both of them, but he couldn’t help but feel that they were directed at him. 

 

Then there was a flash of light, and the man was gone. Golden brown eyes blinked in shock. “What the--where--?” He turned to look at Eraqus, who looked frustratingly thoughtful again. “Okay, spill. What’s going on?”

 

“Hmm?” Eraqus turned to look at him, a small grin coming over his features. “What do you mean?”

 

Xehanort groaned. “I know I’m not crazy. The old man was here, and now he’s not. What’s up with that? Is that a secret Master thing you’re not telling me?”

 

“Not that I know of.” Eraqus shrugged, then returned to packing up the game. He was quiet for a moment, “But I suppose that if I wanted to find out, I would check bookcase eleven, shelf nine in the Library.” He looked at Xehanort out of the corner of his eye. 

 

“That’s the time travel section,” Xehanort had longed memorized the library’s layout, especially after Eraqus stopped giving him the answers and only gave hints to where he could find the answers to the questions he asked. 

 

“Is it?” Eraqus hummed thoughtfully again, and Xehanort looked up at the ceiling, praying to whatever higher being there was, whether it was Kingdom Hearts or something greater, for the strength to deal with his frustratingly secretive friend. 

 

“Fine, I’ll seek the answers myself.” 

 

“Okay.” Eraqus shrugged and that seemed to be the end of the conversation. 

 

Xehanort rolled his eyes again, and thought back to the elderly Master Sky. Getting old did seem like a ridiculous thing to do. 

 

Maybe there was something in the library that could cure that particular affliction as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These can be taken as part of the 'canon' of the first fic or not. They were mostly written because hey were fun to write, but they didn't necessarily jive with the rest of the fic, either because it took the focus away from Sora's connection to his friends, or because it didn't go that well with the sort of 'theory' I had set for Sora's scattered heart by the end of the fic. But they were still fun and people had asked if a few scattered Soras ran into some villains, so here we go!


	2. An Adventure Worth Waiting For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Side Story - Kairi keeps an eye on Sora as he sleeps while also making plans for her future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Side Story takes place shortly before Sora wakes up. I just wanted to explore Kairi's idea for an independent study a little bit and give her and Namine a few moments to bond.

Kairi sighed as she made notes on the pad of paper Leon had given her, glancing over at Sora’s sleeping body every few minutes, checking to see that he was still there. 

 

That he hadn’t just... disappeared again. 

 

But every time she checked, the brunet was still there, snoring away. 

 

Kairi huffed out a small chuckle. Even if Sora did go away again, Riku would run after him to drag him back, and Kairi knew that this time, she wouldn’t be that far behind. 

 

But for now... 

 

She glanced back down at the papers she was looking through. Tax records for the Castle Town part of Radiant Garden. Ansem had told her that the last time the town had taken a census was nearly 20 years ago, long before Kairi had been born. And she didn’t know her grandmother’s names, or the names of her parents. So the census from before her birth was useless. 

 

She didn’t even really know her birthday. 

 

So instead she was searching the tax records of the approximate year she was born, trying to find a couple that may have applied for a tax break on account of the birth of their little girl. 

 

It was harder than she thought it would be and not only because the town archives themselves were in such a state of disrepair, but it was also hard because now that Kairi had opened this door, she was finding it difficult to even consider closing again. It became a mystery, and one she couldn’t find a single clue for but one she desperately wanted to solve. A pain had settled in her heart as she realized more and more how little she knew of her past. It hadn’t seemed important before. 

 

Kairi ran a hand through her hair and looked back at the papers. It didn’t matter how little she cared about it before. She cared about it  _ now _ . 

 

Another pair of names stuck out at her as they had indicated the need for a tax break due to a new birth. It also listed that they already had three kids at home. 

 

That was another thing that Kairi hadn’t even considered. Could she have siblings out there somewhere?

 

She didn’t  _ think _ so. Both Aqua and Sora had mentioned that it had been just her and the old woman. But maybe the other kids were in school or something.

 

She sighed and wrote the names down anyway. She was hoping to have time to track them down. Leon had said to leave the list with him while she planned for her trip and he would track down who all had returned to Radiant Garden. 

 

He had also reminded her of a list that Kairi was politely ignoring for now: a list of the dead and missing. Though she knew that her grandmother’s name was likely on it (probably along with her own), she didn’t want to the first thing that reminded her of her Grandmother’s name was to read it on a list of the dead. 

 

It might become her only option though... 

 

_ Knock! Knock! _

 

Kairi startled at the sudden noise and she looked to the door. “Come in?” 

 

Slowly the door open, and a pale hand followed by a head of pale yellow hair came through. “Oh... I’m sorry... I wasn’t interrupting was I?”

 

Kairi grinned at Namine, quickly using her pad of paper to mark her spot. “Nah. I was just doing some research! C’mon in!” She waved the girl over. 

 

Namine stepped further into the room. “What are you looking up?” 

 

Kairi groaned, “Tax records. The Town records are in a bit of disarray, not to mention I can’t even remember my grandmother’s name... so...”

 

“You’re trying to find your grandmother?”

 

She pushed a strand of hair out of her face and nodded. “Yeah. I want to kinda... understand where I came from. I mean, I know it was here. But I don’t know who my parents were. Or who my grandma was. Sora said that she saw her tell me a story in a flashback. But I don’t remember it or her.” Kairi sighed and leaned against the back of the chair. “There are so many things I don’t know about myself. And I thought I was content not knowing. But now--” 

 

“I suppose that makes sense,” Namine nodded, crossing her hands in front of her. “For the time I was alive the first, all I wanted to do was meet you, because I knew that you were where I came from. And I didn’t have any memories from you. Not like the other nobodies.”

 

“Because you were your own person,” Kairi reasoned. “Like Roxas was from Sora.” 

 

Namine shrugged. “But even that doesn’t make that much sense. Why isn’t Isa a separate person from Saix? Or Lea and Axel?”

 

“Do we really want two Axels running around?” Kairi groaned at the thought, then continued “I think it has more to do with the fact that you and Roxas didn’t have those memories that connected you to your somebodies. In a lot of ways, hearts are made of memories. It’s not everything that a heart is, but our pasts shape ourselves.” She glanced down at the book. “Soo... I want to remember my past. Some things are already coming back the more I visit this world, but I want to know more. I want to remember the first time Aqua came to Radiant Garden. When I first met her. I want to remember my grandma.”

 

“Then, is there anything I can do to help?” Namine offered a shy grin, one that Kairi returned. 

 

“Not until Leon finds more tax records to go through. It might take a while, the records are in pretty rough shape,” Kairi stretched, glancing over at Sora again as the boy glowed, then returned to normal. He had been doing it more frequently. Ienzo had reassured her it was due to a few Soras returning on their own. 

 

According to Riku, there were still so many others out there. 

 

“I see Demyx’s idea is working,” Namine noted. “The Sora magnet.” 

 

Kairi nodded. “Yeah, I think it’s gonna happen a lot faster as more are returned. Riku insisted on going back there though. To the graveyard.” She had wanted to go with, even as her entire body trembled at the thought. Riku had hugged her though and asked that she remain here instead to keep an eye on Sora. 

 

_ “You don’t have to force yourself to go back there again.”  _ Riku had murmured _. “We all know you’re still the bravest among us.”  _

 

Kairi couldn’t even hide the relief that came from those words. She still worried for Riku though. He shouldn’t have had to go back there either. 

 

“So what are you gonna do when Sora’s awake?” Namine asked. “Finish your keyblade training?”

 

Kairi nodded. “And I wanted to travel. Leon’s gonna keep an eye out here and let me know as soon as possible if there’s any word on my family. But until then, I asked Yen Sid for permission to do a sort of independent study....” She took another notebook out of her bag and flipped through it, skipping past pages of half scribbled melodies and song lyrics. “So, we know from the Organization that the seven Princesses of Heart passed on their lights, right?”

 

Namine leaned against the arm of the chair to get a better look at the notebook. Kairi had split the page into two columns: One side listed the former princess of heart, the other had three names. Rapunzel, Elsa, and Anna. “I heard that had happened. But I thought you also--”

 

“I’m not one hundred percent certain.” Kairi shrugged. “I mean... Xehanort did--er-- well I might have lost it?” She really didn’t like thinking about what happened to her. She felt a steady warmth on her shoulder as Namine squeezed it for support. “But I suppose we can ask Yen Sid how we could know for sure...” In the shorter column she wrote ‘Kairi?’ “We’ll have to ask him anyway how we can look for the rest.” 

 

“We?” Namine’s voice was filled with confusion and Kairi realized she had gotten a bit ahead of herself. 

 

“Uh, yeah!” Kairi offered up a grin. “I hoped you would like to travel with me!” Namine looked a little hesitant and she hurried to complete her explanation before the blonde could say no. “I mean, I want to find the other princesses. It might be important to know where they are if something like this happens again. And it’s something I can do while still training and the heartless aren’t as big of a problem.” 

 

“But you want  _ me _ to go with you?” 

 

Kairi realized that Namine had been hesitant not because Kairi had asked her, but because the other girl thought she had misheard. “Of course I want you to go with me! If you want. But Sora’s told me so many stories, and I want to find some adventures of my own. But it’s really not that much fun without a friend.”

 

“But... what about Sora?”

 

Kairi wrinkled her nose. “What about him? I figured he might want to visit some worlds he’s already been to. To see old friends. And I know he wants to drag Riku to all of them because that’s just how he is.” She laughed a little, “Plus, I’m kind of hoping they’ll be in a sort of ‘just dating honeymoon phase’ by that point and I definitely don’t want to get in the middle of that.” 

 

Namine blinked, but then nodded. “Is... Is it bad to say that I’m glad you think so? I knew how Riku felt, and I figured out how Sora felt. But you were kind of an enigma.”

 

Kairi could understand that. “Honestly? I think Sora and I could have made each other happy. But I know how much Riku and Sora already make each other happy. I would rather have someone who looks at me the way Riku looks at Sora. You know?” 

 

Namine grinned and nodded. Suddenly a ding rang through the room, startling both of them. Kairi realized it was her phone and she reached for it. “Oh, it’s Xion!” The dark haired girl had sent a picture of herself with another younger Sora. 

 

“It is?” Namine was quick to look over. “Oh... can you tell her I hope she gets back safe?” 

 

Kairi chuckled, but did as asked. After she was done, she turned to her friend. “What do you say?”

 

Namine reached up to tug at her hair nervously. “Well, if you’re sure--”

 

“I am.”

 

“Then, yes, please.” Namine bowed politely, “I would love to travel with you.” 

 

“Great!” Kairi then pulled up another list. “I've already started a packing list. Sora never thinks of these things, so he always wears the same outfit in every world he travels in, but there’s totally enough room on a gummiship for a suitcase, so I’m thinking we at least need to bring a jacket. We’re gonna check on the sisters in Arendelle and Sora would not stop talking about the snow there, so I think a jacket would be good.”

 

“Oh, I--um...” 

 

Kairi looked up when Namine trailed off, pulling at her dress awkwardly. 

 

“I suppose I need more clothes...” 

 

Kairi offered a grin. “My foster mom loves to go shopping. I’m sure she wouldn't mind taking you.”

 

“I wouldn’t want to impose...” 

 

“You wouldn’t be,” Kairi reassured her. 

 

Namine still looked hesitant, but she nodded. “Okay. If we do go though, can I--er-- Is there something I can wear under my dress so it doesn’t, er... I mean. If I have to run around a lot it sort of--” She kept cutting herself off, not sure of the word. 

 

“Chafes?” Kairi offered. She then pulled up her skirt just enough to reveal the tight shorts she wore underneath. “Of course! There’s lots of options, but I totally understand. The first few days of keyblade training were awful until I asked the good fairies for these when they were taking my measurements for the new clothes.” She then turned the page in her notebook and began to write another list of clothes to pick up for Namine. 

 

“Kairi!” 

 

Her head shot up at the shout and looked to where Namine was pointing. Sora had started to glow again, but whereas before the glow would fade after a moment or two, this time he seemed to just glow brighter. 

 

“Is this--?” The Sora magnet taking full effect? 

 

Kairi got up, taking a step closer to the bed, not really listening as the door opened, and Riku raced past her to Sora’s side. It was really happening. 

 

Soon. She would have her best friend back soon. 

 

She could handle everything else that came after later. For now, she focused her attention on her two best friends, waiting patiently for the moment when Sora would open his eyes, when Riku’s exhaustion would end, and for the ache in her heart to lessen. 

 

Soon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, Square, where is the Kairi-centric game where we discover her backstory??? How does her grandmother know the story of the ancient keyblade wielders? Who were Kairi's parents?
> 
> Next up: Side story featuring Vanitas! (Because my best bad boy is just _way_ too fun to write as a flood unversed.)


	3. A Second Step Out Of The Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas finds out that not all broken things are permanently damaged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was mostly indulgent and fun to write. Vanitas as a Flood unversed is just adorable to think about.

Vanitas wanted to groan, but his displeasure was only able to be voiced as a scratchy hiss. He beat the screen anyway, his unversed form barely scratching a dent. 

 

“Oh, did the character die again?” Rikuto huffed, clearly hiding a laugh and picked up the device. “I guess your tiny arms can’t reach all the buttons at the same time. 

 

Another hiss and Vanitas scratched at the ground, trying to get rid of that shaking tingly feeling that took over his whole body. Ven promised that it was better than scratching Rikuto’s face, which is what he really wanted to do. 

 

He supposed it was almost the same. 

 

Rikuto picked up the device and flipped through a few screens. “Here, try this one. You have to use reaction commands to sneak past the giant.” He played it for a few moments till Vanitas motioned that he wanted to try, then set the screen back down. 

 

If Vanitas focused, he could just manage to use the little numbs he had for hands to push the correct buttons as needed. He managed to pass several levels, barely listening as Rikuto cheered him on. He nearly got the Sora-like character to the window when he missed a button, causing the first of his lives to vanish. 

 

Unfortunately, with his tragic luck, the remaining two lives were quick to fall as well and Vanitas was left looking at the game over screen in frustration. 

 

“You got really far!” Rikuto stated, “When I started playing this one, I didn’t get that far.”

 

Vanitas didn’t  _ care _ how far Rikuto got when he first started to play the game. What mattered was that his score wasn’t nearly as high as the other boys and it should be. He was just as good! He scratched at the screen, but it wasn’t good enough! He needed to break something. 

 

Without fully thinking it through, Vanitas picked up the heavy phone with his unversed arms, tossing it at the wall. He didn’t really expect it to go that far, but he must have been angrier than he thought, that emotion transferring into strength. 

 

“No!” Rikuto yelled, but it was too late. 

 

In whatever was left of his mangled heart, Vanitas knew he had done something wrong when the phone met the brick wall with a sickening crunch and fell to the ground in a few pieces. 

 

“What did--Why did you do that?!” Rikuto yelled, scrambling over to look at the broken pieces, but even Vanitas could tell the phone was completely destroyed. “That--That was the only way I could call my Mom. My friends!”

 

Vanitas felt an unfamiliar feeling settle in the pit of his stomach. It wasn’t irritation and far removed from anger and hate. It wasn’t even fear. This was something different. It made him wish he had hands to try and put the pieces back together again, made him wish he could go back in time and stop himself from throwing the phone at all. 

 

Rikuto turned to glare at him, and Vanitas found himself surprisingly scared. This was it. The moment when someone would tire of him and take him out. He was weak in this Unversed form and had thought he would be protected with Ven’s word that he would be good. And he tried. 

 

But he supposed that it wasn’t good enough. He knew this wouldn’t last forever. He had been waiting for his own temper to cause his downfall. 

 

He just didn’t think it would be at the hands of Rikuto. 

 

Rikuto glared for a moment longer, and Vanitas stared back, waiting. After letting out a sound of frustration, the silver-haired boy ran off. “I shouldn’t have trusted you.” 

 

That feeling grew worse, even as Vanitas tried to hide it behind anger or irritation. It wasn’t his fault the phone was so fragile! Or that the game was stupid! 

 

Even the irritation didn’t soothe him this time, and he found that the sinking feeling grew into a literal sensation as he melted into the floor.

 

A faint buzzing sound distracted him from fading away completely and he lazily moved towards it, finding that it was emitting from the phone. Vanitas let out a sigh and studied the odd piece of tech. Maybe if he could repair it somehow, the feeling would go away. He gathered the pieces together, as many as he could find, but it seemed like the screen part was cracked, and Vanitas wasn’t sure if it would function with a cracked screen. 

 

Was it even worth trying to repair?

 

“So this is where you’ve been...”

 

Vanitas startled at Ven’s voice, and he turned, finding his brother staring at him with a bit of curiosity and caution. No fear though. Vanitas presumed that he probably wasn’t all that threatening right now, half melted into the floor and trying to put together a broken gummiphone. 

 

“Oh, did it break?” Ven picked up the main part of the phone studying it. Then he looked back at Vanitas. “Did you break it?” It wasn’t said in an accusing tone, which somehow made the feeling swirling inside Vanitas even worse. He couldn’t create other unversed while in this body, and he didn’t want to know what kind of monster would form from this feeling. 

 

After hesitating for a moment he shook his head, though Vanitas knew it was a lie. He  _ had _ meant to break the gummiphone, he just hadn’t meant to break  _ Rikuto’s _ gummiphone. 

 

Ven seemed to catch the lie but didn’t comment on it. “Well... maybe it can be fixed. C’mon, we’ll go ask Ienzo. Okay?” After he picked up the pieces, he held out his arm. “Do you want a ride?”

 

Vanitas almost refused. He could walk on his own. He definitely wasn’t a  _ pet _ like that other blonde said. but--

 

Being carried would mean being close to Ven. And he really wanted to be close to Ven right now. Maybe that would make the feeling go away. 

 

He climbed up to Ventus’s shoulder and latched on. He heard the other huff out a chuckle and they began walking down the corridor. 

 

“You know, I’m sure he’ll forgive you.” 

 

Vanitas shook his head, then paused, wondering how Ven could have known--

 

“Even in Unversed form, you practically wear your emotions on your sleeves,” Ven chuckled, “But that’s okay. Between Sora, Roxas, Xion, and I, you’re in good company with that.”

 

Vanitas grunted in acknowledgment, though it came out more like a squeak. He supposed he could be in worse company. 

 

He suddenly found himself wishing he had human vocal cords so he could explain himself to both Ven and Rikuto. He wished he could ask what this gnawing, sinking feeling was. He didn’t like it. 

 

Soon they were in the even brighter light of the laboratory and Vanitas huddled deeper into Ven’s clothes to try and hide from the light. It didn’t hurt exactly, but he was uncomfortable. 

 

“Oh, Ven, Vanitas!” Ienzo greeted, walking up to them. “What brings you down here? Sora’s sleeping, so he’s not--”

 

“It’s not him,” Ven assured the other young man. “It’s actually this.” He held up the broken phone pieces. “I think it’s Rikuto’s phone. Can you fix it?”

 

Vanitas turned to look at the other man, watching as he took the phone pieces and studied them with his one visible eye. “I’m afraid this is rather out of my realm of expertise.”

 

Vanitas couldn’t help the sound of disappointment that came out. 

 

“Oh, but I can ask Dilan,” Ienzo quickly finished, “He’s pretty good with electronics.”

 

“Great!” Ven grinned, “Thanks, I know Vanitas would appreciate it.”

 

Vanitas frowned inwardly (only because he didn’t have a mouth to do it outwardly). He didn’t really  _ appreciate _ it because he didn’t understand what ‘appreciate’ meant. But the sinking feeling, the one that had left him feeling lower than the dirt on the floor, had somewhat lessened at the news that the phone might be able to be fixed. 

 

He turned away from the two who were still conversing, looking instead at the chair in the middle of the room. Rikuto had told him that was where he had woken up the first time in his new Replica body. 

 

Before he had even come to a conscious decision, Vanitas started wriggling out of Ven’s loose grip. 

 

“Wha- Van!” 

 

Vanitas was already darting towards the chair, climbing up it and settling, scratching at it, hoping to get his point across. 

 

Why was it so bright in here? This would be much easier if he could call upon the darkness to speak! 

 

Of course, if they got his point, that wouldn’t be a problem for long. 

 

“Do... Vanitas do you want a replica body?” Ven asked. 

 

Vanitas scratched at the chair.  _ Of course, I do! Do you think I’d be sitting in this stupid thing if I didn’t?! _

 

“I guess that’s a yes.” Ven turned to Ienzo. “Is it possible?” 

 

“Uh, I--” Ienzo scratched his head. “Well, we created another Replica just in case this would happen, but I’ll need Even’s help to get it all set up.” He nodded to Vanitas. “Give me a few moments, and I’ll ask Dilan to take a look at the phone, and Even to get the Replica ready. It shouldn’t be too long, okay?” He turned to leave the room, setting the broken phone pieces down. 

 

Vanitas darted around the chair, suddenly filled with another emotion. It didn’t quite drown out the sinking feeling, but it did fill him with a sort of nervous energy. 

 

“I guess you’re pretty excited for a body then?” Ven took a seat on the edge of the chair. “You’re not doing this out of guilt though, right?”

 

Vanitas tilted his head.  _ Guilt? _

 

“You know, that sort of sinking feeling in your heart. The one that makes you want to go back in time.”

 

Was  _ that _ what he was feeling? Vanitas scratched at the fabric of the chair, wishing he could explain himself better. He supposed having a human body would make that easier. Not everyone could speak in Unversed hisses and scratches. Ven did the best at interpreting them, but Vanitas didn’t want to get stuck talking to Ven his entire life. 

 

Vanitas shook his head. 

 

“Good,” Ven nodded. “I’m glad!” 

 

Vanitas was rather doubtful on that, but he supposed he could at least pretend that Ven was sincere. 

 

Within an hour the gummiphone was fixed and Vanitas was able to pick it up with two human hands, visible and solid even in the bright lights of the laboratory. 

 

“It’ll be a while for your heart to adjust to your new body,” Even noted, 

 

“Yeah, yeah.” Vanitas rolled his eyes. That’s how it was whenever he got a new body. That giant hairball monster wouldn’t have been able to throw him through a door if he hadn’t been still adjusting. 

 

“I mean it!” Even half shouted though Vanitas tuned out everything he said after that, studying the fixed phone. 

 

The cracked screen was completely replaced, and the dents and scratches had been buffed out. 

 

“You were lucky the damage was mostly to the casing,” the larger guard, Dilan, pointed out. “And that the inventors sent over replacement screens, but the data was all still intact.” 

 

“Are you even listening to me?!” Even shouted. 

 

“Nope,” Vanitas answered, still looking at the phone. “So it’s just like how it was?”

 

“Yes,” Dilan nodded. “Just don’t go chucking it into any more walls.”

 

Vanitas felt his face heat up. “Yeah, well... then the phone shouldn’t do stupid things,” he muttered, looking away and pointedly ignoring Ven’s laugh. “I suppose I should, uh...” He trailed off, not really sure what he should do now.

 

“Give the phone back?” Ven suggested, “Maybe apologize?”

 

“I don’t apologize,” Vanitas spat.

 

“Okay, fair enough,” Ven held his hands up. “But you might be surprised at how far you can get if you do.” 

 

Vanitas thought it over. “I’m gonna give the stupid phone back!” He announced and marched out of the laboratory. He had to pause when he entered the study though, not sure where to go from here.

 

“It’s this way.” 

 

Vanitas turned, finding that Ven had followed him out and was pointing down one of the hallways. 

 

Vanitas sighed and followed the blond up some stairs. They had to pause at more than a few points for Ven to talk with his friends, Vanitas leaning against the wall impatiently for Ven to finish, only to be interrupted not two seconds later by someone else!

 

“C’mon!” Vanitas huffed, tapping his fingers against the wall, trying to get rid of his energy. The process of fitting his heart into a Replica body must have done something to his powers, for no unversed formed, though he knew even the weakest flood would have emerged by now from irritation less than this. “I’ve got places to be.”

 

Ven and the annoyingly tall redhead he was talking to both blinked. 

 

“You know, I almost preferred him as that little rabbit thing,” the redhead noted. “Though I’m not going to miss the hissing.” 

 

“I was not a rabbit!” Vanitas shouted. 

 

“He’s not so bad when he calms down,” Ven reassured the redhead. “I’ll introduce you guys later, but Vanitas apparently has someplace very important to be.” He waved at the redhead before turning and leading Vanitas down the hall. “You know, Rikuto isn’t going anywhere. He wanted to wait till Sora was well enough to go home. We were all planning on making a trip out to Destiny Islands to meet Sora’s parents. Do you want to come?”

 

“Why would I want--”

 

“Sora’s parents are nice. From what little I can kind of remember, his mom is just like Sora. Very welcoming.” Ven’s grin was soft, “I just want to see them happy again. Don’t you?”

 

Vanitas huffed and glanced away. He wasn’t really sure what a mom was, only hearing the term in passing when spreading the Unversed around. But if there was an adult out there that was just as gullible and kind and open as Sora and Ven? He might have to see if that was true. “I’ll think about it.”

 

“Great!” Ven then pointed to one of the doors ahead. “That’s Rikuto’s room. I’m sure he’s there.”  He then paused just by the next door, ushering for Vanitas to continue. 

 

The darker haired boy paused, panicked for a second. What if--? 

 

He shook his head. No. He had to do this. It was his fault. He had to try to make it right. 

 

He swallowed around a dry throat, then knocked on the door. He felt his newly rehomed heart start to beat faster as he heard footsteps on the other side of the door. Soon the doorknob turned. 

 

“I told you, Riku! I’m fi--” Rikuto broke off what he had been shouting, then glared at Vanitas. “It’s you,” he scoffed and looked away, but didn’t slam the door. 

 

“Uh...” Vanitas floundered for words, turning to look at Ven for help. The blonde just sent a thumbs up and mouthed the word ‘apologize’ and then disappeared down the corridor. 

 

_ Traitor.  _

 

“Um...” Vanitas took a deep breath, and then took the repaired phone out of his pocket. “I, er-- I...apologize.” He held the phone out. “For breaking your phone. The, er, the big guard guy fixed it. The dark haired one.”

 

“Oh.” Rikuto took the phone from his grip. “Well... thanks.” He then leaned against the doorframe, seeming to notice for the first time that Vanitas was solid and there was no Unversed at his feet. “So... new body?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Huh...” 

 

Vanitas was getting uncomfortable with the staring. “What?”

 

“I dunno. I didn’t think you’d be taller than me. I thought for sure the weight of your ego would keep you short.”

 

“Hey!” Vanitas shouted, sure that was uncalled for, and he heard a very familiar snicker from just down the hallway. 

 

When he looked back at Rikuto though, he found a smirk on his face, and Vanitas realized that the other boy was teasing. “Yeah, well. What’s your excuse?”

 

“I have literal proof that I’m gonna tower over you one day. I can wait.”

 

“I thought the whole point was you didn’t want to be Riku. Who says you’re gonna be as tall as him?” 

 

“Yeah, well. I’m gonna be taller than  _ him _ , too.” 

 

Despite himself, Vanitas found himself laughing, and soon he heard that laugh echoed by the boy beside him. 

 

“Thank you, for getting my phone fixed,” Rikuto said. “Though don’t think I’m gonna let you borrow it again to play games. If you want to beat me, you’ll have to get your own phone.”

 

Vanitas huffed, “I have a body now, I’m sure it’s gonna be easy!”

 

“Oh really?” Rikuto smirked again, “I have a feeling that I’m gonna be waiting for a while.”

 

“I can beat you at other things!” Vanitas’s voice rose. Something about that smirk just put him on edge. He summoned his keyblade instead. “Wanna spar?”

 

“Well that wouldn’t be a very fair fight right now,” Rikuto huffed. “You’re gonna fall over any second. Didn’t Even tell you to take it easy?”

 

“Huh?” Suddenly, Vanitas felt his energy leave him and he leaned heavily on Void Gear. “What the--” He dismissed his keyblade and leaned against the wall instead. 

 

“Your body is still brand new,” Rikuto explained. “And you’re heart is still getting used to its new home. You can take it easy. We’ll spar when you're stronger. In the meantime, I’ll take laughing at your attempts to beat my high scores any day.” 

 

There was that smirk again. Vanitas huffed and crossed his arms, making a note to ask Sora to teach him how to play those games later. 

 

He had to wipe that stupid smirk off Rikuto’s face before it drove him crazy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot twist - Sora is even worse at the Classic Kingdom games than Vanitas is, but he tries to give the other boy tips. (Or maybe I'm just projecting.... ) :D
> 
> Next time: Sora's heart hotel reunion!


	4. Vacancy at the Heart Hotel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A rainy day is perfect for hanging out with close friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because the Heart Hotel gang needs to have a discussion with their proprietor. ^_^

“Sora! Your friends are here!” 

 

Sora frowned, wondering who his Dad was talking about. If it was Riku or Kairi, they’d usually just come right up to his room. Not to mention he was talking to both of them over the phone. Kairi and her foster mom were taking Namine shopping for their ‘independent study’ trip while Riku was spending time at home with his Mom. 

 

He slipped his phone into his pocket, then headed downstairs. 

 

He was surprised when four familiar faces greeted him. “Roxas! Xion!” He grinned and gave them both a hug before turning to the other blonde. “Ven!” 

 

He heard Ven huff out a laugh before Sora turned to the last person. “Vanitas!” The brunet opened his arms, not perturbed in the least when Vanitas glared at him. 

 

“Touch me, and die.” 

 

“Okay!” Sora lowered his arms and instead settled for a large smile. “What are you guys doing here?” 

 

“We just wanted to visit and talk,” Xion said, pushing a stray strand of hair out of her face. “Is that okay?”

 

“Of course! We can go, uh...” Sora looked passed his friends to the weather outside, where it was pouring. “Well...” 

 

“How about you just hang out in the living room, Sora?” His dad suggested. “I’ll tell your Mom that the rest of the kids are here.” 

 

“Okay!” Sora waved them all into the space where he, Riku, and Kairi used to play games for hours on rainy days, graduating from board games to video games as they got older. 

 

Vanitas immediately claimed the comfiest chair in the room, curling up on it and hugging his arms around the decorative pillow Sora’s mom had put there. Roxas and Xion sat on the couch while Ven sat on the ottoman by Vanitas. Sora grinned and sat on the floor, not minding one bit. “So why did you guys really come?”

 

“To hang out mostly,” Roxas admitted. 

 

“We missed you,” Xion noted. 

 

“We thought you might like the company,” Ven added. 

 

“These three thought you might go and do something stupid again if left to your own devices for too long,” Vanitas huffed. 

 

Roxas let out a long sigh. “I told you to stop saying stupid things.” 

 

“You guys were taking to long to get to the point.” Vanitas defended, squeezing the pillow tighter. 

 

“You were worried too,” Xion pointed out. 

 

“So?”

 

Sora held up his hands before a fight could break out, “Wait... you guys thought I might... do something stupid? Like what?”

 

All four looked at him with a mixture of shock, disappointment, and pity. 

 

“Sora.... you literally just came back from getting your heart shattered,” Roxas said the words slowly, as if to a child. 

 

Sora frowned. “So? As you said, I came back. You guys helped, so it was fine!” 

 

“I told you he’s too stupid for this conversation,” Vanitas muttered, half his face buried in the pillow. Sora made a note to ask his mom for a similar pillow to give to Vanitas as a gift. He didn’t expect the boy to like cuddling things, but he noticed that Vanitas had developed a habit to latch onto anything soft. 

 

“We agreed to at least try.” Xion kicked her feet up so she was leaning more on the armrest, then turned back to address Sora. “We’re more just worried about how you’re doing. Still no nightmares?” 

 

Sora shook his head, then hesitated. There  _ were _ nightmares, but not about being split apart. All those different versions had eventually found someone they connected with, so he never felt scared or alone. 

 

But the one recurring nightmare...

 

“I knew it!” Ven hopped off the ottoman to sit on the floor next to Sora, “What is it?” 

 

Sora bit his lip, hesitating. He hadn’t even told this to Riku yet, though he had a feeling that his boyfriend might have at least felt it. The moment all their friends were just... gone. When Riku stepped in front of Sora to deflect the heartless storm for as long as he could. “It’s nothing, just--”

 

“The heartless storm,” Vanitas said. “Or right after it. That’s when it happened, right? When Ven died?” 

 

Sora’s head shot up, “You--”

 

“I don’t remember, exactly. I just... I remember a pain in my heart. Like the part I had been searching for was just gone. But it’s a phantom pain now. Like it didn’t actually happen.” Vanitas squeezed his pillow tighter. 

 

Ven frowned and stood up, walking the few steps back over to the chair to place a hand on Van’s shoulder. The darker haired boy’s grip on the pillow eased up minutely. “What’s he talking about Sora?”

 

The brunet looked up at Ven, and suddenly remembered the moment when the blonde was flung backward by a blade he hadn’t even seen coming. Aqua’s total shock as the person masquerading as their best friend nearly killed him. Donald collapsing from overexertion after casting a spell way beyond his capabilities. Then the storm coming, knocking them all out one by one, Kairi getting ripped away just like before. And then Riku... 

 

Sora blinked when warmth encased him from all sides, heads of both blonde and dark hair obscuring his vision. Though everything seemed a bit blurrier than usual. 

 

It wasn’t until Vanitas’s surprisingly gentle hand came up to wipe the tears away that Sora even realized he was crying. Though once he felt the tears, he couldn’t get them to stop and he grabbed on to Van’s hand tightly while wrapping the other around Ven. “You guys were... gone. I mean. Roxas wasn’t even there, and Xion... but it didn’t matter, everyone was gone.”

 

He struggled to explain better but the tears came faster. He hadn’t realized that he needed this. Needed to tell someone. He and Kairi had talked about it sparingly. And Riku always comforted him after the nightmares, but never asked questions, knowing he would talk in his own time. 

 

But these guys had all been in his heart in some way or another. They knew how he felt, would have felt in that moment. 

 

“Sora?” 

 

The brunet startled at the sound of his Dad’s voice and he glanced up, eyes still a little watery. “Yeah?”

 

“Are you guys okay?”

 

Sora pulled a little away from the group cuddle, just enough that he could wipe his hand under his eyes and nod. “Yeah, we’re okay.”

 

His dad still stared at the five of them in clear worry. “Do you need me to call anyone? Riku or Kairi?” 

 

Sora thought on it for a moment before shaking his head. “No. I think we’ll be okay.” 

 

His dad stared for a moment longer before nodding. “Alright then. I’ll go make some hot chocolate anyway, just to be sure.” He shuffled away as quietly as he had come in. 

 

Xion turned to Sora. “Hot chocolate? What’s that?” 

 

Sora wiped under his eyes again, removing any lingering tears. “It’s the best drink ever. It’s like... comfort in a mug.” 

 

Ven quickly agreed, though the rest still stared at them, some with more suspicion than others. Sora let out a laugh. 

 

“You’ll just have to see.” 

 

The others nodded, then Roxas turned back to Sora. “So, that thing about Ven dying. You want to explain?”

 

Sora let out a sigh, “It’s... complicated. I’m not even sure what exactly happened, and Kairi’s the only other one who sort of remembers. But when we first arrived at the keyblade graveyard, Terra was there to meet us, but it wasn’t Terra. He attacked Ven and--”

 

“And Terra’s armor stopped him,” Ven completed but trailed off when Sora held up a hand. 

 

“Not the first time.” Sora pulled his knees up to his chest, staring at the carpet. Suddenly, the decorative pillow appeared in his line of vision and he stared at Vanitas’s peace offering before taking it, hugging it close. “The first time, he knocked you out cold Ven. Nearly killed you. You and Lea. Then he tried to come in again and strike at Kairi. I tried to protect her, and then Donald used some kind of...mega spell to take him out, but the spell completely drained him.” Sora took a deep breath. “Then that storm of heartless formed and dragged everyone into it. Everyone but Riku and I. And I--- panicked. We were all taken out so quickly, I barely had time to process it.” 

 

“That’s understandable,” Xion whispered, running a soothing hand down his back. “It must have been scary.” 

 

“Yeah,” Sora admitted. “But then Riku... he told me that he believed in me. Then he...” Sora choked off on his explanation, “He--” The tears were starting to come again. 

 

Why had Riku done that? Didn’t he know? Sora may have been lost without his friends, feeling lower than low. Feeling like he was nothing. 

 

But without Riku? 

 

Without Riku, Sora  _ was _ nothing. He hadn’t even entertained a notion that a universe could even exist without Riku in it. He  _ couldn’t  _ have entertained it, the thought was so foreign to him. Of course, Riku would always be there. He was  _ Riku. _

 

And then he wasn’t. 

 

“Riku... sacrificed himself for me. Just stood in front of that huge storm by himself and blocked a full blow for as long as he could. His light was so radiant that it cut through them all.” When Sora closed his eyes he could still remember that light. So warm and bright, even when the darkness surrounded them. 

 

“But you must have brought us back,” Ven reasoned. 

 

Sora nodded. He didn’t want to tell that part. About being dead, meeting Chirithy. Meeting all those hearts lingering between life and death. His heart couldn’t take thinking about it right now. “I had to fight this... grim reaper heartless thing. But yeah, I got you all back. And then time got rewritten. And it happened the way you remember.” 

 

All four of them looked shocked when he mentioned that time had been rewritten, and Sora suddenly realized that probably wasn’t some kind of casual keyblade power. 

 

“Okay, so it’s really Riku we have to keep from doing stupid shit. Got it.” Vanitas’s quiet mutter was cut off by a yelp. “Would you stop poking me!?”

 

“Would you learn to put a filter on your mouth?” Roxas retaliated, leaning in to hug Sora again. “Though... he is right. Riku’s clearly the self-sacrificing idiot here. Sora was just following his lead.” 

 

Despite himself, Sora couldn’t help but let out a weak chuckle. “He did it to save me though.” 

 

“Oh, we know  _ exactly _ what lengths Riku will go to in order to save you,” Roxas muttered, and even Xion let out a little sigh at the statement. 

 

Sora frowned. He knew why Roxas was so angry with his boyfriend a lot of the time, though he thought that the blonde had forgiven Riku. But it appeared that forgiven is not the same as forgotten. “Yeah... I know.” He really needed to have that talk with Riku.

 

Soon after, his dad returned with a tray of hot chocolate, and Sora eagerly took his from his favorite mug. 

 

“You know, I think the gaming system still works if you guys wanted to play.” Daichi pointed to the now out of date and dusty TV. “We kept all your old games in a box under the couch, Sora.”

 

“Really?” Sora hurriedly put his mug on the end table and looked under the couch, letting out an excited “Yes!” before pulling out the box of games. Inside were his and Riku’s favorite Racing games, and Kairi’s favorite adventure series. “You guys wanna play? We only have two controllers, but we can take turns.” 

 

“What kind of game is it?” Roxas asked, leaning over to look. 

 

Sora grinned, pulling out his favorite. “You’ll see...”

 

An hour later, Sora had collapsed onto the floor, laughing so hard he could barely breathe as Vanitas and Xion raced for the championship round. Both of them seemed to swear as they breathed, the insults becoming more and more ridiculous as the race continued. Ven was sitting by Vanitas, partly to cheer him on, partly to stop him if he tried to cast a freeze spell on the TV again. Xion was moving around with her controller, her eyes trained on the screen. Roxas was laughing next to Sora, growing in volume when Xion let loose another cuss-laden rant as Vanitas slipped passed her cart into the lead spot. 

 

“I see your Dad has told you about the video games...” 

 

Sora’s laughter quieted at the sound of his Mom’s voice. “Yeah! Thanks for keeping it!” 

 

She grinned in response. “Will everyone be staying for dinner?”

 

“Yes!” Sora shouted, then glanced at everyone else, rubbing the back of his neck. “Er, I mean-- if you want?”

 

“We don’t have any plans,” Roxas glanced over at Xion, “Right?” Xion shook her head, eyes still on the screen. 

 

“Lea and Isa are still checking things out back at Radiant Garden.”

 

“I’ll just have to call Aqua and let her know,” Ven said, already pulling out his gummiphone. 

 

“I don’t have anyone to call,” Vanitas muttered crossing over the finish line just a millisecond before Xion. He smirked at her pout, barely flinching when Ven nudged his shoulder lightly. 

 

“Aqua will be worried about you too, idiot,” Ven huffed. 

 

“Great! Daichi and I will order a few pizzas. Feel free to keep playing!” Aiko stepped out of the room. 

 

“What’s a pizza?” Vanitas asked. 

 

“The best food ever,” Roxas explained. “It’s like this dough, and then there's sauce and cheese.” 

 

“That doesn’t sound all that great,” the darker haired boy huffed, pulling his knees up again. Sora nudged the pillow from earlier over and Van was quick to snatch it up. 

 

“You’ll love it!” Xion reassured him. 

 

He seemed to consider that endorsement for a minute before nodding. 

 

They actually ended up playing video games and eating pizza until late into the night. Sora had insisted on taking a selfie with them hours ago, sending it to Kairi and Riku with the caption  _ “Sora’s Heart Hotel Reunion!” _

 

Kairi had responded with her own selfie featuring Namine in a new outfit _ (All set for our trip!), _ while Riku sent a picture of himself, Rikuto, and Hoshi covered in flour _ (Teaching the younger brother some family cookie recipes...) _

 

Sora grinned, sending a text back quickly to both ( _ Namine looks so cute! Be sure to send a picture to Xion and Roxas too! _ ) ( _ I hope you’re planning on sharing!) _ . 

 

Xion’s and Roxas’s phones went off a minute later, and Xion looked away from where Roxas was racing against Ven to answer. “Oh! It’s Namine.” There was a slight redness in her face as she hurried to respond. 

 

Roxas paused the game to look as well. “She looks ready for an adventure.” Sora leaned in to take a peek. 

 

The picture they got was a little different, showing off more of Namine’s outfit. White was still the predominant color, but now there were pops of light blue as well, especially in the leggings she wore under her white dress, as well as a white and blue colored jacket. Kairi had mentioned earlier about getting Namine a traveling artist kit as a belated birthday present, and the pale blonde now had that clutched to her chest just as tightly as she once held her sketchbooks. 

 

“She’s gonna need better shoes,” Vanitas noted, then stole Roxas’s controller to continue the game and beat Ventus. Roxas didn’t seem to mind as he and Xion texted Namine back. 

 

Sora laughed quietly and sent Kairi a text:  _ Everyone here approves, though Vanitas noted a need for better shoes. _

 

_ Already on it. She’s borrowing a pair of mine.  _

 

Then another pair of dings rang out in the living room, this time from Van and Ven’s phones. Ven looked away from the screen for a moment, and Vanitas took the opportunity to race across the finish line with a loud “Fuck yes!” 

 

Ven pouted but ignored Van’s self-congratulating to look at his phone. “Terra sent a picture...” 

 

“You mean he actually figured out how to do that?” Vanitas huffed, looking at his own phone. “And his finger’s not even covering the lens.” 

 

“He’s learning. Slowly,” Ven acknowledged. “It looks like he and Aqua met up with Isa and Lea in Radiant Garden and they’re having a late dinner.” 

 

Sora, Roxas, and Xion’s phones dinged shortly after, with a similar picture, but taken with Lea’s phone. Isa and Aqua were clearly having a disagreement in the middle while Terra was covering his mouth to hide obvious laughter and Lea smirked at the camera. All three of them had the same caption:

 

_ Terra and I are currently debating if Isa and Aqua are long-lost siblings. Thoughts?  _

 

Sora leaned over to show Ven the image. “They  _ do _ kind of look alike. With the blue hair and all.” 

 

“Yeah... that’s weird,” Ven noted. 

 

It became the topic of discussion late into the night while they continued to play video games. Sora barely managed to remember where they kept the spare blankets and grabbed a few to throw to the others before leaning back against the couch to rest his eyes for a moment. Just...a....moment. 

 

“Hey...Sora?”

 

Sora jerked awake, it was completely dark now. His eyes adjusted quickly, used to waking up suddenly due to heartless attacks in the middle of the night. As it was, his hand was half outstretched to summon his keyblade before he recognized his surroundings. The TV he had played video games on his whole life, the familiar coffee table, chair, and couch. Even the bodies covering the ground were somewhat familiar, as Sora had often fallen asleep with Riku and Kairi both staying the night. 

 

“Sora?”

 

That voice wasn’t Riku or Kairi’s though and Sora leaned over the edge of the couch so he could look at Ven who stared back with wide blue eyes. “Yeah?” 

 

“What you were talking about before. About rewriting time. That’s not... normal.” 

 

Sora let out a sigh, his whole body going limp against the couch. “Yeah... I kinda figured as soon as I said it out loud.” He shook his head. “What’s weird is that... in the last world that I fought that grim reaper in, Xehanort appeared. The young version. He said that there was a heavy price to pay for doing that. But I still don’t understand what he meant. I mean, I haven't paid a price yet...” 

 

The sound that Ven made when he hit his forehead with his hand would have been comical if the conversation wasn’t so serious. “Sora... your heart was literally shattered into an infinite number of pieces.” 

 

“Well... yeah... But you guys--”

 

“It’s a miracle we were even able to put you back together,” Ven huffed. “I mean. Look at Vanitas and I. We’re not even able to fully combine again, even if we came from the same Ven... the original Ven in a way.”

 

“Yeah, but you guys spent, like, a lot of time apart from each other,” Sora reasoned, “Even longer than Roxas and I spent as separate people. Or even Namine and Kairi. You grew to be different people, of course, you couldn’t fit back together.” He looked over to where Vanitas was sleeping, though he was somewhat too still, and Sora wondered if the boy wasn’t quite as asleep as he appeared. “Besides... I don’t think what happened was quite the same as that.” He shrugged. “I dunno... But I’m me again, so that’s all I care about.”

 

“Yeah...” Ven nodded. 

 

Sora grinned, “Why did you guys really come here? We hung out all the time when I was recovering.” 

 

Even in the darkness, Sora could see as Ven blushed a bit. “Um, well... we all talked about it. And we all missed you. A lot. More than just now, when we’re on different worlds... but when you were gone, it was like a part of us was missing too.” The blonde let out a shrug of his own. “It’s weird, but I think it’s because all of us spent so long in your heart. Even Vanitas, in a way. We’re kind of attune to each other, so it was weird for one of us to be missing.” 

 

“Heart hotel gang then?” Sora teased, reaching a hand down to poke at Ven’s cheek. “Totally should have charged rent.” 

 

Ven huffed and slapped at Sora’s hand lightly. “Nah. You’re too kind for that.” 

 

Now it was Sora’s turn to blush and he laughed. “Yeah... I guess I am. Riku always says that I’m kinder than I need to be, but he always sounds so proud when he says that, so I guess he doesn’t mind.” 

 

“I may not know him that well, but I’m pretty sure that you could come close to murder and Riku would still think you’re cute and kind,” Ven huffed out a laugh. “I’ve never seen someone that in love and I’ve had to listen to Terra pine about Aqua for  _ years _ .” 

 

Sora laughed a little too loudly at that, which set Roxas to start grumbling where he was huddled under a blanket with Xion. The brunet covered his mouth to hide the rest of his laugh and looked back down at Ven. “Yeah... I’m still kind of mad I didn’t notice it before. I feel like I wasted time not telling him how I felt but I didn’t even realize until--” He cut himself off, feeling his eyes prick as he remembered again the image of Riku sacrificing himself. 

 

He had the worst timing to realize his feelings. 

 

And even then it was only a half thought. Something that didn’t even register as a blip on his radar because  _ of course,  _ he loved Riku. He felt that emotion for so long that he wasn’t even sure when it had shifted from a friendly, brotherly love to the kind where he wanted to kiss and hug and  _ be with _ Riku forever. But then Riku was gone and Sora was reaching for his light--

 

“Sora? You’re crying again.” 

 

Sora stubbornly wiped under his eyes. “Sorry... just--”

 

“You should talk to him about it,” Ven mentioned. “If it’s bothering you this much...” 

 

“I don’t want to burden him.”

 

“I doubt he’ll see it that way.” 

 

Sora huffed but nodded, “I’ll work on that.” 

 

Ven seemed subdued by the statement and he drifted off to sleep. Sora struggled to keep his eyes open for a few more minutes, knowing that thinking about that moment could lead to a nightmare, but soon he drifted off as well. 

 

Thankfully, his dreams were nightmare free. 

 

Or maybe that was Riku making sure they  _ stayed _ nightmare free. 

 

Sora next became aware of a hand gently tugging at his hair. It was warm and familiar though so he nuzzled into it. “R’ku...” 

 

“Hey there, sleepyhead,” Riku’s voice whispered, and Sora cracked his eyes open to see the somewhat blurry image of his boyfriend leaning over him. 

 

“Hey...” Sora stretched as best he could without actually moving. “Is it morning?”

 

“Going on noon,” Riku huffed. “Should have figured you’d all be the types to sleep the day away.” 

 

Sora grunted in acknowledgment and looked around. Ven was sleeping on the floor by the couch, while Roxas and Xion were still snoring away, Xion having stolen all of their shared blanket. Vanitas still hugged a pillow to his chest, while Rikuto knelt over him, a mischievous smirk on his face while he pulled out a marker he must have grabbed from somewhere. 

 

Riku frowned. “Is that--”

 

“It’s washable, don’t worry...” Rikuto half groaned half whispered, then began to draw marks on Vanitas’s sleeping face. 

 

Sora let out a huff of air, knowing exactly how that prank was gonna end. It was too early to deal with that so instead, he pulled at Riku so the taller boy was forced to put more of his body weight on the brunet. Much warmer and way better than a blanket. “It’s too early. I need more sleep.” 

 

Riku huffed and maneuvered just enough that he wasn’t completely crushing Sora and was holding him instead, their legs tangled. “If you say so.”

 

“I know so.” 

 

Another laugh rumbled, and Sora smiled as the sound echoed through Riku’s chest. 

 

He was more dozing than sleeping as Riku ran a hand through his hair soothingly. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

 

The words were a bit muffled from where Sora had buried his face in Riku’s shirt and he pulled back, a little reluctant. “Huh? What do you mean?”

 

“Did you have any nightmares?”

 

Sora frowned, then shook his head. “No...why?”

 

Riku frowned, then pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I got this late last night. I was asleep though, so I didn’t see it till this morning.” 

 

Sora frowned, his brain taking a minute to put the words together: _ Sora’s crying over you. Again. Keep hurting him like this and I will kill you. _ The text was from an unlisted number. “Who...”

 

“By process of elimination through the fact that I have everyone else’s number listed, I’m guessing it was Vanitas,” Riku didn’t sound too upset at having his life threatened though. Which was fair enough. Even while recovering and trying to ‘be a better person,’ Vanitas threatened everyone with death on a near-daily basis. “So...why were you crying over me? Was it something I did?” Riku’s features turned to concern and he marginally loosened his hold on Sora, as if the brunet would want to pull away. 

 

Sora wasn’t having it and cuddled closer, letting out a sigh when Riku tightened his grip again.  He wasn’t sure how to answer Riku’s question though. It  _ was _ because of something his boyfriend did, but at the same time, something he didn’t do. Because he didn’t have to. Not in this timeline. “It’s nothing. Vanitas just took something out of context.”

 

“No, I didn’t,” Vanitas groaned, proving he wasn’t asleep. The damage from Rikuto’s sudden burst of artistry was already done though, and Rikuto laughed quietly. Vanitas glared at him while rubbing his eyes, which only smudged the dark black circle the shorter silver haired boy had drawn. When Vanitas pulled his hand away and noticed the black ink, he frowned. “What the--” He rushed to the bathroom while Rikuto burst into a staccato of laughter, startling the others awake as well. 

 

There was a cut off shout from the bathroom, then Vanitas came running out, practically tackling Rikuto where he was still laughing. They struggled over the marker till Vanitas managed to wrestle it from Rikuto’s grasp. “Let’s see how you like it!!” 

 

Rikuto started to struggle again, though he was laughing as well, so no one really thought to help him as Vanitas took the opportunity to draw on his face as well. 

 

“Draw a dick on his forehead,” Roxas suggested. 

 

“Nah, just write Dork!” Xion had pulled out her gummiphone to film it, capturing the half smudged lettering and shapes on Vanitas’s face. 

 

“You guys are both next!” Rikuto half chuckled as Vanitas began to write something on his cheek. 

 

Sora couldn’t help but giggle as Xion and Roxas both offered even more ludicrous suggestions for Vanitas, his laugh echoed by both Ven and Riku. He felt his boyfriend’s arms tighten around him just a bit, and Sora leaned into the touch. Riku’s warmth and light were always familiar and welcoming. 

 

The warmth of his friends would always manage to drag him out of whatever darkness he found himself in. He was just so glad he was able to bask in their light again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone just needs to hug Sora till he feels better. 
> 
> Next is the first true epilogue: Data-Sora's big ~~date!~~ Day Off!


	5. Data-Sora's Day Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Data-Sora wants to ~~go on a date~~ have a day off. He has it all planned out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Data-Sora is somehow even cuter than regular Sora??? And then Data-Riku is also cute?? I don't know, I just need them on my phone as little avatar dudes.

“C’mon Riku!” Data-Sora dug his heels in, trying to drag his friend away from his work. “You promised!!”

 

“In another moment, I just have to check--”

 

“No, you don’t! I did all the checking!!” Sora quickly held up his fingers as he counted off. “Minnie is spending the day with Mickey going over the book inventory and trying to convince him to get rid of a few books. Chip and Dale are taking a day off, as are Donald and Daisy. Goofy is spending the day with his son. Terra and Aqua are cleaning out the rooms at the land of departure to prepare it as an actual keyblade training place, and Ventus and Vanitas are off on adventures for bonding or something.”

 

“That might be dangerous...”

 

Sora hushed him, then looked back at his hand to try and remember where he was at. He was quickly running out of fingers. “Um... Oh! And Lea and Isa are officially moving from Radiant Garden to Twilight Town, so Roxas and Xion are helping them. Rikuto is at school. Namine and Kairi are traveling, so they might need us, but I asked them to hold off for at least six hours unless an emergency.”

 

Riku grinned reaching out to ruffle brunet spikes. “You’ve really put in all this effort, did you? And what about the real us?”

 

Sora fought to keep the blush from staining his cheeks. “They’re on a bit of an adventure of their own. Besides, we’ll be spending all day on Sora’s phone, so if they need us we’ll be right there.

 

After a long moment, Riku finally let out a grin. “Okay. You win. We’ll take today off.”

 

“Yay!!” Sora cheered, jumping in excitement. He knew he could get Riku to agree, but the digital boy was such a workaholic (even more so than his real version), that Sora knew he would have to get ahead of Riku and get all of the work done. He had also made sure that everyone else knew not to bother them today so Riku could actually enjoy his day off.

 

Sora had so much to show him.

 

He quickly pulled up an email to send them to Sora’s phone from the computer in Mickey’s library. “C’mon!” He held out his hand.

 

Riku only spared one last look at the workstation behind him before he turned back and took Sora’s hand. The shorter boy quickly pulled Riku into the email and sent it before the other boy could change his mind.

 

Travel by email was weird and kind of snug. But it was quick, and soon he felt the data decompress as the email was opened by another.

 

“Hi, data me!”

 

“Hi, real me!!” Sora waved up at the screen. He wasn’t exactly sure how it all worked, and he suspected that Riku, _his_ Riku would know more. But the screens on the gummiphones acted more like a window, letting the real Sora peak in at his Data version, and vice versa.

 

Sora had been so excited to meet his real person once the bigger Sora had woken up from his shattered state. It had been a big job, keeping track of the number of Soras that returned. But then they all came back at once and overloaded his system!  It had been worth it though because the real version was so cool.

 

And he took the _best_ photos.

 

Speaking of...

 

“Is it still okay if Riku and I spend today in your photos?”

 

The real version of him grinned. “Yep! I got it all set up like you wanted. Kairi even sent a few videos that I added in as well!”

 

“Great!” He turned to wave at Data-Riku, who hovered just out of sight. “Don’t be shy, Riku! Come say hi to Sora!”

 

Surprisingly hesitant, Riku stepped forward till he was standing beside his friend. “Er... hello.”

 

“Oh, Riku!” Sora then turned to someone just off-screen. “Riku! You never said the Data version of you was so cute!”

 

Data-Sora laughed, turning to his friend. Data-Riku’s cheeks must have been burning they were so red. “Why are you embarrassed? You are kind of cute.”

 

That did nothing to help disperse the blush. If nothing, it got darker. “Sora!”

 

Data-Sora grinned then looked back at the screen, finding that Sora was shifting the screen to accommodate for someone else and--

 

Oh.

 

He supposed he could get why Data-Riku had a hard time looking real Sora in the eye.

 

It had taken him ages to get used to real Riku.

 

Whereas _his_ Riku was cute and the best, real Riku was... Sora didn’t have words for it, but real Riku had made his digital heart beat just a little bit faster.

 

But now Sora knew that, though older, the real Riku was just as much of a dork as the data version. And sentimental. He kept every single photograph the real Sora had sent him, even when his phone begged for some to be deleted to save on storage.

 

Data-Sora hoped that wouldn’t be as much of a problem now that the real Riku had his Sora. Just like how he had his Data-Riku.

 

“All ready for your day off?” the real Riku asked, grinning at Data-Sora’s enthusiastic nod.

 

“Have fun!” real Sora waved. “I’ll probably be adding more pictures today, so be sure to check those out later.”

 

“Okay!” Data-Sora grinned and then grabbed Data-Riku’s hand, dragging him over to the photo storage area. “You guys have fun, too!”

 

They could still hear the real Sora’s laugh as they dove into the folder.

 

Data-Sora only had to look for a moment before he spotted the subfolder he had set up earlier with the real Sora. “In here!”

 

“'Data Sora and Riku’s day off'?” Riku read the folder name. “You really had all this planned.”

 

Sora chuckled, looking away so Riku wouldn’t see him blushing. It wasn’t what the folder had originally been named, but the real Sora teased and wouldn’t change it until Data-Sora had appealed to the real Riku, who changed it for him.

 

Because “Data-Sora’s Big Date” would have been getting ahead of himself just a bit.

 

“Woah...”

 

Riku’s surprise was evident as they entered the first picture. A frozen moment in time, quite literally, as snowflakes hung suspended in the air. The snow still kind of crunched at their feet, and Sora didn’t quite feel the chill that real Sora had warned him about. But it was still pretty.

 

“We haven’t seen snow before, so I wanted to show you!” Sora grinned. “We can’t really visit the data scapes from the journal anymore, but I still want to show you all these new worlds. So I figured this might be the second best thing.”

 

Riku was still looking around, now taking in the breathtaking view of the lights in the sky. Greens and pinks and blues contrasted with the dark sky and reflected off the white snow below.

 

“It’s...” Data Riku trailed off.

 

“I know!” Sora agreed. He reached up to try and touch one of the falling snowflakes. It didn’t exactly melt like he knew it should, but it was still pretty cool. “I asked Sora to add a few pictures of places he’s visited. So we can visit too!” He grabbed Riku’s hand, and then pulled him into the next picture.

 

They spent the next several hours like that, running from picture to picture. They looked over at frozen sunrise at the top of the San Fransokyo bridge, explored an island in the Caribbean, raced through the camp in the Land of Dragons, and danced in the town square in Corona.

 

(Well... Sora danced. Riku just rolled his eyes and warned him when he was about to run into someone.)

 

After that, they discovered the pictures and video that Kairi must have sent. An underwater cavern filled with a kind of glowing blue light that seemed to emit from a giant floating crystal. And then a scenic oceanscape that almost reminded Sora of the Destiny Islands if it wasn’t for all the strange alien creatures running around.

 

The last file was a video that started playing as soon as they entered. The bright lights nearly blinded both of them for a moment and then there was loud, rambunctious music. Sora immediately took Riku’s hand, hoping that the music would entice the other boy to dance with him.

 

“Sora, I can’t-- Not even the real me has a function for dancing...” Riku protested as Sora dragged him along to try and copy some of the moves.

 

“No one here can see us!” Sora reassured him, “And I don’t care if you can’t dance, I just want to have some fun!” He wiggled and jumped to try and copy the movement of the fancy dressed man just behind Riku’s shoulder. The man took the lady he was dancing with into his arms and dipped her low. The lady must have thought it was fun for she laughed, throwing her head back in joy.

 

“Give him a kiss, Tiana!” Kairi’s voice echoed through the video, not in view but still captured by the recording. The lady, Tiana, must have agreed the man deserved one for she kissed him briefly, much to the man’s enjoyment. Kairi and Namine’s laughs were audible.

 

Sora thought about it for a moment, then copied the man’s moves, dipping Riku. It wasn’t as smoothly executed and the silver-haired boy quickly grabbed onto Sora’s shoulders in panic.

 

“Sora!” Riku’s eyes were wide in shock. “What--” Slowly, he relaxed when it became clear that Sora wouldn’t drop him.

 

Sora grinned sheepishly. “Sorry... I thought it looked like fun.” He started to pull Riku upright again. Evidently, he would not be getting a kiss for his efforts.

 

Which he supposed made sense. There was no Data-Kairi or Data-Namine around to encourage them.

 

Maybe he could talk to Chip and Dale about that...

 

“Oh! Tiana is this--” Kairi’s loud voice startled Sora out of his thoughts.

 

“Yeah! This is it! Hang on just a second...” Tiana moved just out of sight of the video though her words could still be heard. “Louis! Louis, turn the music down and tell Mama to turn the lights off.”

 

After a moment the music quieted, the lights around them dimmed and Sora was able to see what it was that caught Kairi’s attention. Sora and Riku were shifted along with the video screen as Kairi must have moved closer, the gently moving waters of a river.

 

There were millions of stars near the water, glowing and twinkling, shining bright in the darkness of the night. After the lights around them turned off, Sora noticed that there were several other shops and houses around the river that also turned their lights off, which allowed the stars to shine brighter.

 

Then the glowing lights began to rise as one, a wave of starlight ascending towards the sky. It wasn’t until one of the glowing lights sped right towards Kairi’s camera that Sora was able to get a good look at it.

 

It was some kind of insect that buzzed loudly, the sound near deafening the closer it must have gotten to Kairi’s gummiphone. Then it buzzed away to join the others in their ascent.

 

“And they’re called fireflies?” Namine’s voice asked.

 

“Yep! They always come out every year to commemorate the day that Ray joined his Evangeline.” Tiana pointed towards the sky, and Riku and Sora looked as well.

 

Thankfully, Kairi must have tiled her phone up, or whatever they were looking at would have been just off screen. But there in the sky were two bright stars near each other.

 

“May we all one day find our Evangeline,” the man next to Tiana said, wrapping an arm around her waist. She let out a hum of content and kissed the man on his cheek.

 

Sora grinned at the sight, then turned to look back out over to the fireflies again. They really did look like a mass of stars, and he supposed in a way they were. Every firefly had a heart, and maybe it was just easier for them to let the light in their hearts radiate outwards. Just like stars.

 

There was a warmth over his hand, and when Sora looked down, he saw Riku’s gloved fingers cover his own, though the older boy had his gaze focused solely on the sky above them.

 

“Oh man, I gotta send this to Sora!” Kairi exclaimed, “He and Riku would love this!”

 

The video went on for a moment longer before cutting off. Sora and Riku were flung unceremoniously into the next picture, the bright light of the ever-present sunset a stark contrast to the scene they had just come from.

 

Sora missed the fireflies already, but he had also hoped this would be the next picture. Dancing with Riku, wanting a kiss, had just reminded him what he had hoped for when first arranging this day off. “That was fun. I should tell Sora to take more videos!”

 

Riku’s face was red, or maybe that was just a trick of the light, and he coughed into his fist. “Yeah, that was definitely different. Though maybe if he does it for us, he can warn us when the video is gonna end.”

 

Sora grinned, “So you’ll come with me if Sora records videos of more worlds? Maybe without me begging for you to take five minutes away from work?” He was teasing but he also hoped that Riku was serious.

 

Now Riku’s flush really was visible, and he rolled his eyes. “Sure. I suppose taking days off more often isn’t so bad. Especially if I get to spend them with you.” He reached out to place a hand on Sora’s shoulder, much to the brunet’s delight.

 

“Yay!” Sora cheered, then turned to lead the way to a very specific scene he had asked the real Sora to photograph.

 

Thankfully, his real version delivered perfectly.

 

Set out in front of them was a table with two chairs, a small bouquet of flowers decorating it. Sora grinned, pulling out one of the chairs and motioning for Riku to sit down. Riku frowned but did so and Sora quickly took a seat at the other chair.

 

“What’s all this about?” Riku wondered. “It’s not like we can get dinner served. We can’t even eat.”

 

“I know,” Sora acknowledged, “But I saw this place hidden in Riku’s photos... I mean, the ones that Sora had sent him before--well, before.” Sora shrugged. “I thought it was pretty cool and a nice place to relax and, you know, talk.”

 

Riku raised an eyebrow, “We talk all the time...”

 

“Yeah... I know...” Sora trailed off. This wasn’t going well. “I mean, like-- about not work sorta things. Just talk. About dumb things... or--I know! What did you think of today?”

 

Riku crossed his arms. “I already told you. I wouldn’t mind spending another one with you.” He then let out a grin, and instantly Sora felt his doubts fade.

 

“Really? You’ll go on another date with me?!”

 

“Huh?” Riku’s brow furrowed. “Another?”

 

_Oh._ Sora threw his hands in front of his mouth. “Not another date. Not a date I mean. I just, um. Like a play...date?” That sounded even stupider. He felt his face heat up. “I mean... Will you go on a date with me? A proper date?” He squeezed his eyes shut. This wasn’t going to plan at all. He was supposed to sweep Riku off his feet, and hopefully, charm him into an actual date. Maybe get a kiss.

 

Not blurt out the first thing he thought.

  

He was so busy berating himself that he didn’t notice Riku trying to catch his attention until there was a warmth on Sora’s hand, pulling it away from his face.

 

Riku’s smile was so bright that Sora felt his little digital heart stop.

 

“I’ll go on as many dates with you as you want,” Riku said, his grip on Sora’s hand tightening.

 

He knew he probably looked foolish, but Sora couldn’t stop grinning. “I’ll hold you to that then because it’s gonna be a _lot_. For as long as you want.” Once he thought of going on more dates with Riku, the ideas began to fly. Maybe he can ask the real Sora for more videos. Especially of the Caribbean. And maybe home. Or of that lantern festival in Corona. And maybe he and Riku can see an actual blizzard.

 

Riku chuckled, “Can’t I take _you_ on a few dates?”

 

“Oh... did I say all that out loud?” Sora felt his face heat up again.

 

“No. I just know you too well,” Riku’s laughter grew. Then he tightened his grip again on Sora’s hand, his expression sobering. “You’re not doing this because our the Riku and Sora out there are dating right? I mean, we’re them, but we’re not them so--”

 

“What?” Sora quickly shook his head, “No way! I wanted to kiss you long before they started kissing all the time. I just... didn’t know how to ask.” He shrugged. “I mean... when I spent time with Riku on his phone when Sora was gone... I got to see how sad he was. And, I guess I got scared at the thought that I might be the only reminder in the whole universe that Sora had ever existed. And I thought that if that had happened to the real Riku or if you were lost and just gone and--”

 

It was scary. The thought of being alone. The real Riku had all his other friends and even he had been so alone and sad because the person he cared about most wasn’t there. If Data-Riku was gone, Data-Sora would have no one. Only he and Data-Riku had been permanently extracted from the digitized journal. At the time, there hadn’t been enough of Namine or Roxas to bring out since they didn’t really exist in there. If Data Riku was gone then--

 

Warmth gripped his arms and shook him lightly.

 

“I’m right here so stop worrying. I’m not going anywhere. And we don’t need to date for you to know that.”

 

Sora shook his head, trying to stop the tears that threatened to spill over. “Yeah. Yeah, I know that. I’m just... I didn’t want something to happen and regret never asking you, you know? I don’t know what’s gonna happen next, either out there, or here in the data-scape. I just know that whatever it is, I want to face it with you.”

 

There was that shy, soft grin again. The one that made Sora’s heart melt. Then Riku leaned in to kiss Sora’s cheek lightly, then shifted so he could capture the brunet’s lips as well. Sora let out a small shocked noise before pressing back just a bit.

 

It was short, and definitely not as intense as the ones he had accidentally seen the real Sora and Riku share, but it was nice. And it was good. And Sora would cherish it forever.

 

“So, now that we’ve talked and 'had dinner'...” Riku gestured a hand back to the table. “What did you have in mind right next?”

 

Sora grinned then pulled Riku to the next picture. “How about watching the sunset at home?”

 

They spent the next several hours relaxing on the paopu tree, watching the never changing sunset.

 

As long as the sun never set, it could always still be their day off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super Kudos to those who can guess where Kairi and Namine went on their adventures to find the other "new" princess of heart.
> 
> Next Up: Riku has nightmares. Why would Sora ever say he was _worthless_?


	6. Anything and Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A nightmare leads to conversations which leads to a step towards healing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely a conversation a long time coming. I probably didn't touch on everything they need to talk about, but it's a start.

“Alone, I’m worthless...” 

 

_ What?  _

 

How could Sora think that? 

 

Sora. The boy who climbed the tree next to his window when Riku fell ill with the chickenpox to play with him. The boy who stood up to the bullies in fifth grade because they were making fun of Kairi’s new hair cut. Who saved countless worlds and people and made friends with anything with or without a heart. 

 

Sora was never  _ worthless. _

 

“We lost.” Sora continued but Riku barely heard him, so focused on Sora saying he was worthless. “It’s over...” 

 

“You don’t believe that, Sora.”

 

Alone or not. Sora was the most worthy person in existence. He was  _ everything _ to Riku.

 

“I know you don’t.”

 

The person who gave Riku every ounce of strength he needed. The one person Riku would do  _ anything _ to protect. 

 

A branch of heartless broke off from the bigger storm, getting ready to attack. Riku readied himself. He would have to do this with everything he had.

 

To save Sora, he would do this with his whole heart. 

 

He struck the heartless swarm, and they parted around him. He couldn’t look behind, but he hoped that they were being deflected from Sora as well. He had to believe that they were. 

 

The heartless continued to swarm around it. He could feel the pull of darkness at his hands, and his feet. 

 

At his heart. 

 

He screamed his anger at the storm. They would not get to Sora. Even if he had to sacrifice everything he had left.

 

They darkness would not take Sora. 

 

“Riku!”

 

He heard Sora’s voice, but he wished he could turn around. To see his best friend, the boy he loved, just one last time. But if he did that, he might have lost his resolve. 

 

And then it was over. 

 

He felt it the moment his body and heart were taken by darkness and he could only spare a second to look behind him. The darkness swarmed right at Sora, who raised his arms out of fear, the tears still streaking down his cheeks. 

 

_ Sora! No! _

  
  
  
  
  


 

 

“Alone, I’m worthless...” 

 

“You don’t believe that Sora. I know you don’t.”

 

He could do it this time. He was strong. Mickey had said that he had found the strength he needed for this. To protect the one person he cared about more than anything else. 

 

It would have to be enough. 

 

“Riku!”

 

His body and heart were taken by the darkness. When he turned, he saw that same darkness swarm Sora. 

 

He tried to reach out, though there was nothing left to reach for. 

 

And then he was gone. 

  
  
  
  
  


 

 

“Alone, I’m worthless.” 

 

_ No! No, not again! _

 

He could do this. It had to be enough. 

 

The strength to protect the person who mattered most. He had found it. It  _ had _ to be enough. 

 

“Riku!” 

 

He just wished it was enough to stop Sora’s tears from falling. 

  
  
  
  
  


 

 

Maybe... maybe it wasn’t enough. 

 

He had made a promise though. To protect Sora. To save him from everything. A meteor or this stupid heartless storm. He would save him. 

 

“Alone, I’m worthless.”

 

Maybe Riku just didn’t have the strength to save Sora from himself. 

 

“Riku!” 

 

He let the darkness take him this time. Didn’t even look back. 

 

If all his strength and heart wasn't’ enough to save Sora, he didn’t deserve the tears. 

  
  
  
  
  


 

 

“Alone, I’m worthless...”

 

Riku gritted his teeth, clenching his fist, feeling his heart break at the words. 

 

“You don’t believe that Sora.” Riku reached out, drawing the younger boy into his arms. “I know you don’t.” 

 

“Riku!”

 

At least this time they went together. 

  
  
  
  
  


 

“Alone, I’m worthless... We lost... It’s over...” 

 

Riku couldn’t bear to hear the words anymore. His heart was breaking at Sora’s image of defeat. It wasn’t possible. How could Sora believe that? Doesn’t he know that Riku would do  _ anything _ to save him because Riku always believed that Sora was worth  _ everything? _

 

How?

 

_ Squeak! Squeak! _

 

“Wha--?”

 

Riku blinked when something suddenly landed in his arms and began to nuzzle into his shirt. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around it. After a few more squeaks and whines, Riku finally recognized it for what it was. 

 

A Meow Wow? 

 

When it pulled away just enough for Riku to really get a good look it at, he realized that it wasn’t just any Meow Wow, but  _ Sora’s _ Meow Wow. “Fuzzy?” 

 

The Meow Wow squeaked in acknowledgment and continued to cuddle into Riku’s chest. There was another puff of something by his ear, and then there were claws digging into his shoulder as something preened his hair. “Komo?”

 

His Komory Bat let out a quiet screech at its name, its claws digging in just enough to hang on as Riku ran towards Sora who was still kneeling in the dirt. 

 

“Sora! Sora, look! Our Dream Eaters! This is just--”

 

“Worthless...” Sora mumbled again. He looked up at Riku, his eyes still red with tears. “Worthless, Riku. I’m worthless.”

 

“No, you’re not!” Riku shouted the words now. “You’re not worthless and I know you don’t really believe that. You are the strongest, most wonderful, best person I know and you don’t need your friends by your side to tell you that. Because you keep them all in here!” He dropped Fuzzy gently so he could point at Sora’s heart. “I love you. Am I worthless?” 

 

Sora’s eyes went wide with shock. “No. Riku, no! You’re not. Don’t say--”

 

“Then you can’t say it either,” Riku huffed. “Because you’re not worthless. I will give anything to save you. Because you are everything to me.” He stood again and summoned his keyblade. He felt Komo tighten its hold on Riku’s shoulder, while Fuzzy bounced beside him. 

 

Again, the swarm came, but this time Riku wasn’t alone when he struck back. Komo and Fuzzy were there as well, lending him all their strength. 

 

“Riku!” 

 

He jumped at Sora’s voice, much closer than he thought it should be. Then there was a pair of hands at his back, holding him steady while the swarm pushed at him. He felt embraced by light. 

 

Sora’s light. 

 

Riku drew more strength from it, the swarm lessening until it dissipated. Braveheart dropped heavily to the ground as Riku practically collapsed, breathing heavily. 

 

“Riku! Are you okay?” 

 

Someone shook him and Riku shook his head. “I’m fine. Just... tired....”

 

“Don’t fall asleep!” Sora shouted. “You know what happens when you fall into a deeper sleep in a dream!”

 

_ A dream? _

 

Right. He had that thought earlier. When the dream eaters showed up. “Dream?”

 

He blinked teal eyes open, staring straight into Sora’s blue, no longer reddened with tears but still filled with worry. 

 

Movement out of the corner of his eyes caused him to glance back, gasping at the sight of a second Sora, this one still crying. He didn’t seem to see anything happening in front of him and was instead reaching for something. Then, that Sora disappeared. 

 

“Riku!” 

 

Riku blinked, shaking his head and returning to the Sora right in front of him. “What? What’s going on, Sora?”

 

Sora huffed, reaching up to drag his thumb under over Riku’s cheek. Teal eyes widened when Riku realized that the brunet was brushing tears away. 

 

“I’m just glad I got here in time. You ready to wake up?”

 

_ Wake up? _

 

Riku barely thought about it, but as soon as he did, he was gasping for breath, sitting straight up in bed. Something squeaked as it rolled off his chest and landed on his lap. There was another familiar shriek in his ear and he absently reached up to pet Komo, his other hand reaching out to scratch Fuzzy behind the ears just the way he knew the Meow Wow liked it. 

 

“Mmm... Riku, you okay?” 

 

As Sora woke up more, the dream eaters faded away and Riku let out a sigh. “I’m okay Sora. Go back to sleep.”

 

“Not after the dream you had.” 

 

Riku blinked some more of the sleep away then registered Sora’s words. “That I had? No way, that had to have been your dream. I just landed in it and--” Sora’s hand on his arm cut off his words. 

 

“Riku.  _ You _ were having the nightmare. I think I just... followed my dream eaters to help you,” Sora’s voice was quiet. “I don’t think it was quite the same as what you did to me. I’m not a dream eater. But I could hear your heart call out to me. So I just followed.” 

 

Teal eyes glared at the sheets. Great now he could drag Sora into his nightmares? Sora shouldn’t have to see that. 

 

It felt so real. The swarm coming in. Everyone else gone while Sora sounded so defeated. 

 

“Riku, it’s o---” Sora let out an undignified squawk as Riku twisted his body to tackle his boyfriend back to the bed. 

 

He heard Sora let out a little huff of air before wrapping his arms around Riku’s shoulders, letting the taller boy cuddle in close, his head right over the steady beat of Sora’s heart. 

 

“What was that, Sora?” Riku wondered. “It can’t have been just a normal dream. It was too real...” Teal eyes closed in concentration, trying to remember it all. It was starting to fade the longer he stayed awake, but the feelings of heartbreak and the need to protect Sora were still strong, even as they were soothed by Sora’s gentle touch. He suddenly remembered the last time he had felt this exact feeling. When he had to calm the enraged piece of Sora back at the Keyblade Graveyard. He had felt like this back then too. Like something terrible had happened. “Sora... what happened in the dream. Did that happen for real?”

 

He heard Sora laugh. Not in a teasing or mean way, but in his ‘I-know-I’m-a-terrible-liar-so- I’m-gonna-laugh-to-try-and-cover-it-up’ type way. “What? Riku, don’t be silly. I defeated the swarm, remember? I mean-- I had help... But Terra’s armor came and defended Ven before anything bad happened. So don’t worry about it.” 

 

Riku frowned, shifting his head up so he could catch Sora’s gaze. Blue eyes met teal for a brief second before glancing away. 

 

_ Definitely _ trying to lie. 

 

“Sora,” Riku grumbled, reaching up to pull at Sora’s cheek. “You can’t tell a fib to save your life. Why are you trying?”

 

Sora huffed and raised a hand to grab at Riku’s. “I--Well-- “ He squeezed the hand in thought. 

 

Riku frowned, scooting up so he and Sora were sharing the same pillow, then took his hand again. “It’s okay. You can tell me.” 

 

“I--” Something in Sora seemed to break and suddenly Riku found himself pushed back into the mattress. “You know I’m not worth sacrificing your life for. You  _ know _ that right?” Sora disentangled his hand so he could clench onto fistfuls of Riku’s sleep shirt. “I’m not worth that, Riku. I mean it!” 

 

“Sora...” Riku covered Sora’s hands with his own, concerned to find them trembling. Riku was a little scared as well. This was too much like when Sora was calling himself worthless. “You’re worth everything--”

 

“Not your life!” Sora shouted, his trembling becoming a full body shiver. 

 

Riku wrapped an arm around the boy’s waist, burying the other in brunet hair to pull Sora close. “Shh... I’m okay. I’m here.” 

 

“But you weren’t!” Sora’s voice was muffled by Riku’s shirt, but in the quiet of the night around them, he might as well been shouting. “You... just... You didn’t care as the darkness took you. It took your heart and your body and I couldn’t reach y-you.” His voice choked off on a broken sob and Riku tightened his grip. “You were gone.” 

 

_ Gone... dead. _

 

Those were the words the Sora in the Keyblade Graveyard had used.  _ Dead _ .  

 

He had died to protect Sora.

 

Another flashback to the dream. Sora raising his arms as the swarm sped towards him. 

 

At least... Riku held it off for as long as possible. 

 

“I’m not going to say I’m sorry for protecting you.” Riku ran a hand down Sora’s back. “You can’t ask me to regret protecting the person I care about most.”

 

Sora hiccuped another sob. “Then... I guess I’ll just have to get stronger so you don’t have to.” He untangled his fingers from Riku’s shirt so he could better warp his arms around the taller boy’s chest. “I have to protect you too. Because nothing is worth losing you again. I can’t Riku. I barely got you back.” 

 

Riku hummed, debating telling Sora that he thought the brunet was strong enough. Sora could be the strongest person in the world and Riku would still dive in front of him to take a hit. It was something ingrained deep into his heart. But he figured that his boyfriend would probably get upset with him, just as he was upset with Sora’s apparent lack of self-worth. 

 

“How’d you get us back?” he asked instead. He and Sora had been alone when the swarm hit in the dream. Where were the others? Had they already been taken? 

 

Sora let out a sigh. “I nearly didn’t. At first at least. I... kind of died too.” 

 

Instinctively Riku tightened his arms. He had failed. 

 

“Stop it,” Sora said, pulling away again to reach a hand up to Riku’s face, brushing silver hair out of teal eyes. “You didn’t fail--”

 

“I didn’t say--”

 

“You don’t have to,” Sora hummed, leaning in to kiss Riku gently. “This thing was bigger than all of us. As I was saying, I did die. But Kairi’s belief in me held me together long enough to gather enough parts of myself to return to the world.” Sora frowned looking down for a minute. “At least, Chirithy said it was someone, and I kind of thought it was Kairi, but now I’m thinking it might have been everyone. After all, it was everyone who brought me back when my heart was shattered.” 

 

Riku hummed in response. Kairi was kind of special like that. The darkness couldn’t have taken her like it did everyone else, so maybe she  _ was _ the one who could hold on to Sora’s light long enough for the brunet to get it together. 

 

“And then when I got back to myself, I reached out for you,” Sora continued. “But you were already gone, so I had to follow your light instead. I had to find everyone as this giant heartless creature tried to take you away forever. When it was just Kairi left, I found her at the end of the road. Everyone else had gone through and we were heading towards this bright light.” Sora again trailed a hand down Riku’s face. “I think that light... that was you.” 

 

That was impossible. Riku shook his head to deny it. “No way. You said you found Kairi, that must have been--”

 

“Riku...” Sora grumbled, reaching up to pinch Riku’s cheek. “It was you. Even Kairi thought so. We were both heading towards something bright and warm and calling us home. That. Was. You.” He punctuated each word with a poke to Riku’s face. 

 

Riku flinched and grabbed Sora’s hand, pulling it away. “Okay, fine it was my light, why don’t I remember that. Does Kairi remember?”

 

Sora nodded then shrugged. “For some reason, Kairi and I are the only ones who do remember. I talked it over with Ven, and apparently I--uh, sorta rewrote time?” Blue eyes glanced up at him nervously, and Riku knew that if he didn’t have such a tight grip on Sora’s hand, it would have been buried in brunet spikes self consciously.

 

“You... rewrote time.” Was that even possible? Yen Sid had mentioned the rules and regulations to travel  _ through _ time. And even most of the organization had to have replica bodies to do it so easily. But to  _ rewrite _ time completely... “You---Sora, that's--”

 

“I know,” Sora nodded. “I know it’s kind of... weird.”

 

“That’s amazing.” Riku squeezed Sora’s hand and leaned in to kiss his forehead, his nose, his mouth. “You’re amazing. Beautiful and reckless and occasionally an absolute danger to yourself. But amazing.” 

 

Even in the dark, Riku could feel Sora’s face heat up. “Riku-- I’m not-- you know I’m not--”

 

“You are,” Riku said pulling his boyfriend closer and shifting so Sora was practically buried under him again. Then he began to kiss every part of Sora’s face that he could reach. “You are so, so amazing. I’ll tell you every day if I have to but never doubt that. You are so amazing.” 

 

Finally, Sora let out a giggle, tickled by Riku’s light kisses, “Riku! I’m really not!” He tried to push Riku off. “I’m not, I’m not, I’m not!” 

 

“You are, you are, you are!” Riku laughed as well, kissing him after every repetition. “I love you. My absolutely wonderful, amazing boyfriend.” 

 

Sora let out another laugh, squeezing Riku’s hand. “I love you too.  _ My _ absolutely wonderful, amazing boyfriend.” He let out a sigh as he calmed his giggles. “I really,  _ really _ do love you. No matter where anything, darkness or otherwise, tries to take you, I’ll always follow.” 

 

“And I’ll always protect you, no matter how strong you get,” Riku muttered into brunet hair. “So I guess we’re just stuck with each other.”

 

“I’m okay with that,” Sora said, untangling his hand to gently stroke down Riku’s back. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I just... I didn’t want you to blame yourself or anything. Or to remember it. It was...” Sora trailed off, but Riku got the idea. 

 

“I understand.” He ran his own hand down Sora’s arm and back. “But I’m glad you did.” He and Sora both had lingering self-worth issues, but at least now it was out in the open. He would never doubt that Sora thought the world of him, even if Riku felt like he didn’t deserve it sometimes. He never expected for Sora to have insecurities about his self-worth, but Riku promised himself to help Sora through it now that he knew. 

 

They laid in silence for a long moment. Riku continued to run a hand soothingly down Sora’s back, finding just as much comfort in Sora’s absently trailing his fingers around Riku’s bicep. 

 

He felt Sora take a deep breath and hold it for a second, almost as if he wanted to say something but let it go without saying anything. 

 

“You can tell me anything,” Riku murmured. “Whenever you want. It doesn’t have to be right now if you don’t want.” He ran a hand through brunet hair. “Or I’m sure you can talk to Kairi, or Donald and Goofy, or Roxas and the rest of your heart gang... Everyone will listen to you and not judge you.

 

Sora took another deep breath. “I think-- I know I’ll have more to tell you later.” He shifted so he could cup Riku’s face again, leaning in to kiss his lips gently, before pulling away. “But it goes both ways. You can tell me anything, anytime. Or if you need to talk to Kairi instead, or Mickey, or anyone else--I understand that. I just hope that you realize that you don’t have to carry the world on your shoulders. We’re in this together.”

 

“I know.” Riku murmured, kissing Sora in return.

 

Sora hummed and nodded, pushing at Riku until the taller boy turned onto his back. Sora curled up, pillowing his head on Riku’s chest, right over the other’s heart. “For now, we should probably get back to sleep. We promised to meet up with Kairi and Namine in Radiant Garden tomorrow. You know how she gets if we show up looking tired.”

 

“I know,” Riku offered a grin, laying one last lingering kiss down on Sora’s hair. “Go to sleep. I’ll keep watch over your nightmares.”

 

“Mm... you go to sleep too, Riku,” Sora buried close so his lips brushed at Riku’s collarbone. “I can handle my own nightmares sometimes.” 

 

Riku sighed and nodded, but remained awake for a while longer, running his hand soothingly through Sora’s hair. He glanced around the darkened sleeping quarters of their gummiship, the small touches of personalization that Sora put up to make it feel “homey.”  The dim twinkle of star lights on the ceiling illuminated the pictures that Sora had printed of all their close friends:

 

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy standing in front of Disney Castle. Kairi and Namine taking a selfie with a bunch of new friends in some distant world. Ventus and Vanitas had taken their own selfie, both of them flying high above Neverland. Aqua and Terra sent pictures of the restored training grounds at the land of departure while Xion, Roxas, Lea, and Isa had somehow managed to take a selfie of themselves atop the Twilight Town clock tower. Hoshi had taken a picture of herself and Rikuto at Sora’s urging and also sent a picture of Aiko and Daichi at the dinner table. 

 

Sora had so many friends and family cheering for him. Riku vowed to remind him of that every day. He let out a quiet sigh and kissed Sora’s forehead, chuckling at the brunet’s sleepy murmur of approval. Then he closed his eyes and ran his hand down Sora’s back in a motion that soothed both of them. 

 

He thought he heard the familiar squeaks of Fuzzy and Komo before he drifted off, and he figured that he could leave this one night for their dream eaters to handle. Then he joined Sora in slumber. 

 

He would always do everything in his power to protect the light he held in his arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, one conversation isn't gonna heal everything, but it wasn't supposed it. Just a simple conversation between two people who both need to figure things out. 
> 
> Next Time: ~Secret Ending Unlocked~


	7. ~~ Secret Ending - An Opening Move ~~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Achievement: Secret Ending Unlocked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super, super, _super_ short epilogue. Okay so, this was actually meant to be tacked on to the end of the original fic as a sort of "secret ending/epilogue" But I'm so glad that I didn't do it, as I think it might have just ruined the sweet ending.
> 
> This was more or less my attempt to kind of end on a bit more mysterious note that explained everything and nothing.

~ _ Somewhere in Time, Somewhere in Space _ ~

 

Chaos frowned at the two pieces that remained standing on the opponent’s side of the board. “Best two out of three.”

 

“That  _ was _ game number three,” Fate answered, tossing a spare piece in the air. “Face it, you suck at this game.” 

 

“Only because you don’t tell me all the rules when we start,” Chaos groaned and leaned against the back of the chair, glancing over at Fate’s ever-changing face: sometimes old, sometimes young. “I swear you’re more chaotic than I am.”

 

“I work in mysterious ways,” Fate smirked at the tired old adage. “Besides, you were the one who wanted to start this game. Scattering the hero...”

 

“He had to pay the price for messing with you,” Chaos huffed. “ _ You _ were the one who made all the arbitrary rules in order to put him back together.”

 

“It wasn’t his fate to end that way. All I did was give them hope.” Fate sighed, studying the two pieces on the board. “It all worked out. Even with your best attempts to throw me off.”

 

“Confident,” Chaos noted. “So... what’s the next game?”

 

Fate groaned, “I don’t know. I think we played all the good ones.” 

 

This time it was Chaos who let out a sigh, but began to set up the pieces again. “What if we just make up the rules as we go along?” 

 

Fate blinked, then laughed, dark blue eyes meeting Chaos’s golden ones. “You’re on!” 

 

Chaos grinned and made the first move. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not planning on writing any more of this series (where would it go from here?). Especially since I don't want to postulate any KH4 theories involving Luxu or the foretellers in this series. The series was meant to focus on the parts of Sora's heart and its connection to his friends.
> 
> But I have been blown away by the support the original fic and its "deleted scenes" fic received and I thank you all so much for it! :D Hope you enjoyed this little epilogue.


End file.
